Hero of Knothole
by The Fable
Summary: This Story is as of now: unabandoned. I will finish this story and have revised all the chapters to make this as original as possible. Please, if you haven't read the story before read it now and if you have read it again because I changed a lot of it.
1. Heath

Heath

Listen! Before I made a GRAVE GRAVE GRAVE mistake by using another author's story to describe my own. I am sorry for doing that, and I've seen my error. Please don't hate me for making a crappy story! I've completely revised this and I. Will. Make. Amends. This is in first person, so forgive me if I'm crappy at doing this.

Knothole Island

Knothole Island. An unforgiving, weather controlled place filled with villagers whose bloodline traced back to when Jack Slayer lived almost 300 years ago. Dark tanned skin, dreadlocks, sweat, and a desert was stretched throughout the island. It was one of the three seasons on that island. Storm season was next, and then there was winter, and then back to summer. People didn't mind much. Not after what could've happened with their mayor. Jessica, the owner of the shop 'The Box of Secrets' became the new mayor when The Hero shared the power of weather with the people of the island, instead of accepting a handsome sum of 10,000 gold from the mayor. They exiled the mayor, and soon enough was replaced by Jessica. The Hero left the island to live at his court in Bowerstone twenty years ago, and soon the island heard of some new heroes of some kind. Many of the villagers were very excited, and asked Gordon's daughter (you should know who he is if you have the DLC pack, but I'm just making it up that he has a daughter) Gail, if she could have test if they had Heroes in their midst. It would make sense, they moved away from Knothole Glade a long time ago, and there might be an untapped source of Heroes waiting on that island. Of course, they couldn't know, because with Heroes there usually has to be an unexpected and dramatic event that triggers the Hero to find his/her power. This has been proven multiple times with Jack Slayer, The Hero, who changes his name repeatedly, and Maze, the Hero that betrayed the Guild Master in the Old Kingdom had an event that made him a Hero. So The Hero tested blood instead of waiting for events. All he had to do was place the blood on a Cullis gate.

We, however, now look at the story of a young boy that came from this island. The young boy apprenticed to Jessica, and the young boy's sister for now, are the story.

I never really understood Jessica. I know she's the mayor, a store owner, and makes a few men turn heads. There aren't many women on the island with her face that she unknowingly ruins with the white makeup caked onto her face. She reminds me of a street performer more than a leader. Once I saw her juggle three eggs without cracking them and a man made a remark that she could be a jester. He got a good scolding from her, he did! In fact, I almost laughed but I ran to the shop to laugh with my little sister, Ellie. She's about six years old, and I'm thirteen years old. She has silver hair (if anyone says it's white, she'll get really mad and say that only old people have white hair), brilliant green eyes, and she is best friends with everyone in the village. I have black hair, fair skin (if you haven't guessed Ellie and I get picked on every once in a while because of that) like Ellie, and we usually hang around each other. It's almost as if we're best friends but at the same time, we spend a lot of time with other people. I spend a lot of time with Gail, and I've made my own submarine that is patchy and rusted, but it works.

Now we find ways to forge submarines thanks to recent advances in technology. Gordon passed down his arts to Gail, his daughter. Gail passed on her wisdom to me, which is how I made a crappy submarine.

"Why do we have to learn to forge weapons? We never use any of them anyways. That's why The Hero came and helped us, remember?"

"Well, back then we had to leave problems like the weather to slimy politicians like the former mayor. Now, our forges are up and running, the Knights of Knothole island have been re-established, the Guards's Guild helped, and we now have pirates to worry about. Remember how Reaver attacked a while ago?"

"How could I not remember?"

Reaver, who you should know by now, was a scum that would sacrifice a village to keep his good looks and even steal youth from unsuspecting travelers. In fact, he actually did that once before Lucien attacked his mansion. That, and shot Barnum. When he came to attack Knothole, the weather was changed to Storm season as soon as the machine would allow, and then we destroyed his galleons. It was too bad that his flagship was destroyed in the process, especially since he escaped. I've heard about it and I would love to ride on it, but now it's probably infested with algae.

"So, forging, trading, and farming are our best things to do. It's better than letting someone destroy our village, right?"

"Right. I'll get swinging." I moaned.

"Don't even think that works. If you don't learn this, you'll never learn how to fight!" I wanted to fight, but not in offense. I would protect and defend the people in Albion. I would never be like Jack of Blades, turning my back on humanity, just for power. "Alright, I'll start now." I started swinging at the anvil, my hammer dropping at a steady beat. Clang! Clang! Clang! A few more minutes later, and the blade was flat. I called for Jessica, and she complimented my work. "Good job newbie. It looks like you have some skill after all. Catch." She tossed a small bag of coins towards me. "I heard you needed to improve your house. That should be enough to cover for it." She gave me a wink as she walked off to her shop. I looked inside and thank the Light she wasn't lying! I sighed in relief as I ran to my 'house'.

My house was a shack. It was pathetic, patched, and desperately needed improvements. I've taken scraps of metal from the forge, had Gail help me, and even had a small party for when I got a decent amount of gold to pay for improvements. I looked for Ellie in the small shack. "Ellie! We can improve the house now! Jessica gave us some gold to help us!" No answer, and as I crept into her room I saw she was sleeping. I quickly smacked my head, and stashed the small fortune into my shirt. "Ellie!" I whispered. "Wake up; you know what day it is?"

"Improvement day?" she answered in a muffled, exhausted tone. "Yup, I'm going to go get some supplies. Wanna help?"

"Can we buy some blankets? And that toy bear? Please can you buy the toy bear?" She figured out the general goods store was selling a teddy bear, and she wanted it desperately. "Ok, we have… 520 gold on us. We can use a little to get you that bear." She jumped up off the bed, and hugged me tightly. She is incredibly strong for her size, and brought her hands up signaling the eon-old 'carry me' sign. "Alright, but you do know I'm spoiling you, right?" She laughed at the old joke, and allowed me to lift her onto my shoulders. "Full speed ahead!" I cried as she gripped my neck. I started running to the supply store with the wind in my hair, and a little 6 year old pulling at my curly black hair.


	2. Lousy King

Chapter 2: King

I was running with my sister on my shoulders to the general goods shop. I picked out the teddy bear that she was hugging with a huge smile on her face, and I looked across the valley. Adventurers were gathered around the weapon shop, and were desperately asking for weapons. None of them looked strong or smart, they just looked like henchmen. I bought the bear for her, and then I asked if they had any wood. The receptionist gave me a wagon filled with wood that could be bought for 140 gold, and we walked back to our shack. I got out a hammer and nails, and started patching up the holes in the roof. While I was up there, I saw the five rowdy adventurers hand over the gold to the shop owner, and started walking towards us. "Ellie! Go inside! Your bear told me it was too hot out here!" she gullibly believed me and ran inside. A few more boards later, the adventurers arrived. "Hey sonny boy! What're you doin' up there, doin' a man's work? I thought that fathers were s'posed to do that!"

"I am fatherless. I was found on the shores of this island quite a while ago." I was careful not to mention Ellie. "What's your name, boy?"

"They call me Heath. What do they call you?" I yelled.

"I am King." He answered to me.

"Of what?"

"That's my name. You should learn it Heath!" he sympathetically looked at my house and then asked me, "You need help patching up your roof?"

"Thank you King, but I don't need any help. There is only one hole , a roof with no holes." I smiled. "I suppose you are an adventurer then?" I took the last board and nailed it down, giving me a sense of accomplishment. I jumped down, and wiped the sweat off my forehead. "I guess you can call me that."

"What brings you to Knothole Island?" I asked.

"Well, truth be told, my captain can't steer a ship worth his life. Unfortunately, the captain is me. Can you show us where the nearest harbor is?" he scratched the back of his head with embarrassment.

"Well, where are you headed?"

"Snowpeak. My crew is mostly made up of archaeologists dying to get a glimpse of where Jack Slayer killed Jack for the last time." He explained.

"Oh, well all you need to do is get a navigator." I sadly smiled. "I don't know how to get there, but if you get there and somehow find your way back here, tell me how it is. I think you may need to ask our mayor for directions. She is probably in the Box of Secrets over there."

"Thanks, Heath. I promise I'll find my way back here and tell you about it. I'll look at where he threw Jack's mask and I'll tell you everything!" he ran to the shop and his friends soon followed silently. "Ellie, we're done!" I went into the house, and I saw her toying with her bear. "Why'd I have to go inside?"

"I thought they were like Reaver. He's nice though. I'll introduce you to him. Want to?"

"OK!" she happily replied.

"Well leave your bear-"

"His name is Stuart." She puffed her cheeks and flared her nostrils.

"OK, leave Stuart here." She lifted her hands up again. I sighed, and lifted her and started running to Jessica's shop.

When I arrived, I saw that King was having a tough time recognizing Jessica, a woman, as the mayor of the town. "Who is your mayor?!"

"I'M THE MAYOR!" she yelled in a voice that sounded like it came from the Dark. "A woman can't be the mayor! The last time I was here, that slimy jerk was trying to take all the credit for getting rid of the Hollow men here!"

"We got rid of him! The Hero, who is now our king, gave the power of the weather to the people!" I walked into the conversation uninvited. "Hey Jessica, hey King." Jessica was puzzled, but King smiled. "Who is the mayor around here? You said the mayor is in here."

"The mayor is the woman with white makeup on her face, who is slim, and also is the owner of the shop." He soon understood. "Maybe your name should be 'Dumpling'. It would be a noble name. It is a hero's title!" Jessica reasoned with sarcasm. "I am deeply sorry Ms. Mayor. I need to find a navigator to get to Snowpeak. Can you help me?" she deeply thought for a second. Well at least she looked like she did. I think she enjoys playing with men's emotions. There have been more than one random anonymous marriage proposals to her over the years. Even though she was about 39 years of age, people thought she could be stunningly beautiful. "Alright, I'll find you a navigator. All you have to do is give me your weapons until you leave. The last time someone 'needed' a navigator, we end up being attacked by Reaver." She held her palm flat that was waiting for the long sword's weight to reach it. "I understand. Hey, guys she needs our weapons. Give 'em to me." He took his comrades' weapons and his own, and gave the six swords, two pistols, and four rifles to Jessica. "Thank you. Unless an emergency or when you leave, I'll give them back. She put them under her counter and started to discuss matters of pay and a term of navigating until I asked "Hey, can you watch after Ellie for me? I'm going to forge for a while."

"You forge too?! Wow, you are a tough one aren'tcha?"

"How so?" Jessica crossed her arms, intrigued by this information.

"He forges, looks after his little sister, well at least I think it's his little sister, and he also patches his own roof up!"

"That's my brother for you!" Ellie smiled brightly at me proudly. I smiled back weakly.

"So, are you going to keep complimenting the poor boy, or do you want to talk?"

"Ooooooooo~ round one begins!" Ellie clapped her hands joyfully. I walked to the forges and once again began to work on a part we needed for Gail's submarine.

Two hours later, I took the piece I made and walked to the harbor and saw Gail, once again putting oil to make her submarine shinier. "Hey Gail!" she cocked her head, took off her huge smelting goggles, and waited for me to get closer. As soon as we were next to each other, I showed the metal piece I've made. "You know how you needed to fix your propeller?"

"No way! You made that? Now I can replace that damned part, and then it can go even faster! We could torpedo through a Kraken and not feel a bump!"

"That is, if she can take it." I patted the old sub. Gordon once told me it used to only be able to hold three people. Gail modified it so now at least twenty people can fit inside it. It took a few hours to get from here to Bowerstone, when it only takes a minute after she fixed the propeller. "So, how long do you think it'll be until fishing starts?"

"Well, probably tomorrow. You made this just in time!" she smiled ear to ear showing her white teeth. She had black hair that was tied into a pony tail. She had lighter skin than most people from Knothole, but it was still dark. She had black eyes too. It always seemed like she had something like dirt, grease, or gunpowder on her face that she quickly cleaned off when she got the chance. "Got the nets?"

"Well, I think all we need to do is get some hooks on each and every single inch of the net. Then we'll catch a lot of fish!"

"What about turtles? We don't get points for those."

"Easy, we eat turtle soup!" she laughed. "Well, we have quite a few people that want to join our crew." We had four people in our crew. Our "crew" was a fishing team that competed monthly. Every month we make small improvements, but this year it was getting harder to, because I had to forge our parts for the submarine.

"Let's interview them later, say after the contest?"

"Why?" she contorted. "Well, if we get them now, we won't see how they are in action. We take the top two out of the eighteen. No big deal."

"Well I'll smelt this on. It'll be ready tomorrow, but it'll take a while. Go back to the forge and make some more hooks." We said our farewells, and she put on her thick goggles on again.


	3. Submarine Fishing

Chapter 3: Fishing

Fishing is usually a disaster for the other teams. They don't have Gail and I, which is a major disadvantage. They also don't have jobs at the forge, which is another, but each year they get better so we need to get a step ahead. One year we worked with nets, then it was endurance, and this year it was speed. We break propellers each and every year, but I made sure to enforce it about six times, which made it pretty heavy. The objective is to get the most fish in the shortest amount of time. It started at 12:00 AM and ended 1:00 PM so we had plenty of time.

I take Ellie with me on the submarine. Always. Ellie, Gail, Alex and I make up the Crew. We raised our flag which was fashioned as a white mask with Gail's heavy duty goggles. We climbed into the sub and got ready. We set up the nets, counting 6 in total. We dropped the nets off that moved on their own, thanks to a system suggested by Alex. Alex was short and was 10 years old. He had blonde hair, grey eyes, and had a passion for winning. Soon we heard Jessica fire a rifle in the air. We shut the airlock and used the new speed system. "Here we go!" Gail pushed the lever and we flew into our seats. We dropped three out of six nets on the way, and then took off the speed. We used the scope and thankfully, we didn't overshoot to Bowerstone.

We went completely around the island. Alex gave a quick thumbs up sign, and we opened the lock so we could get some air, and so we can set some nets. We threw two more nets, getting rid of our self-moving nets. Then, we used the custom made net I was working on yesterday. We went into speed again, and I almost threw up. Almost.

We then got back to our net-rally point and collected all the fish. We got at least double of what we got last year. We checked my custom net, and we saw that it had DOUBLE of what the other nets got. We cheered, and made our first load off at the dock. Many bystanders were flabbergasted (a traveling trader used that word once.) and couldn't believe that the fish we caught were so plentiful. On further inspection, I figured out one or two died just on impact!

"Alright, only 30 minutes passed, we have another 30 to go get more!" I stated. I unhooked the fish with the team as fast as I could, which took about three minutes, and we jumped back into the sub. "Ok guys, where do we go next?" Alex thoughtfully and mischievously asked. Last year he wanted to sabotage all the other boats by fishing under them. We could've done that, but our flag is always above the water which is horrible, we don't like cheating, and third, we did that once and Jessica, Gordon, and even the General Goods guy threatened to tan our hides if we ever thought about doing that again! Of course THAT was two years ago and Alex joined one year ago.

Fishing can get serious way too fast. We decided to just let the nets rally up and we cruised around the other ships. We saw a huge tentacle smashing down on the ship, sending splinters of wood everywhere. That was just an octopus, they show up every year. And that's why the sailors always carry guns. Soon a devastating barrage of lead and steel destroyed the octopus. We realized the octopus would be too much to handle on their ship. We set a new rally point as soon as we could, and we got all the meat. "Sushi on the house!" Ellie yelled comically. We laughed a bit, but our laughter stopped. It was a dumb joke, but one I still remember fondly.

We quickly came back to the docks, even though once again, the crowd didn't have any idea what happened out on the sea. We confessed that an octopus attacked a crew, but we couldn't carry guns for at least three more years, and we didn't want to test Gail's 'Torpedo right through a Kraken' theory. That only left us to take the meat before it got rotten. The judges of the contest (Jessica, Gordon, and another guy called Theodore) finally gave up and let us keep the meat. We cheered, and we saw the ships starting to arrive. Sadly, there were only 5 of them competing against us. We showed them our big load, and they started swearing and fussing about "How could we lose to kids?!" It gave us a lift-up because you never really see a person from Knothole admitting they've been bested at something. It wasn't nice when they started throwing their beer and ale at me. I ducked, and used a toy gun to hit one or two of them in the head. No eye injuries were reported though, so I'm pretty safe.

"Hey! Heath!" I heard King calling me. "Great job! Tell Gail that she did a good job too!" he seemed as if it was an order. I started to have my suspicions about King right there. He seemed as if he was watching the whole thing. And why was he so interested in me? I mean, shouldn't he have a navigator by now? And what in the Light's name did he mean when he said he got rid of all the hollow men on this island? The Hero was supposed to have done all that. None of it made any sense to me.

At least fishing gives Knothole Island some food storage (and my first taste of being hated). We usually make the lake with the storm season in about 4 minutes, flooding the small lake/valley under our feet. But before it's frozen, we throw in all our catch for food storage. All you need to do to eat anything is make a small hole, and start digging for a bit. As soon as the load gets small enough, Gordon puts the fish in something called a refrijorator. That marked it winter time each and every year. We all hastily put on some heavier clothes as the first snowflake fell down. It couldn't have been a better fishing contest. We won, they lost, and shattered beer bottles were all over the floor. Seems like what happens in the General Goods' store each Friday. I wonder why they always play a game of cards on Fridays only? And why in the world would they need chickens? One time I found a decapitated chick, and I was disgusted. Oh well, it's no good to keep wondering about useless things.

The midnight sky was cloudy, with dull grey clouds. Ellie smiled at me as we walked back home to a warm bed and a fantastic new roof.


	4. Five Days

Author's note: **I know this is probably a little weird to follow. I mean, I'm not like Cornelia Funke, J.K. Rowling, or any of those famous authors. Please comment on these, I really want to know what I'm doing wrong. Tell me a 1-10 rating of what you give it. Please. Just click that little 'add a review here' button and make typing so much easier for me. Thank you.**

Chapter Four: Five days

King left five days ago. And on that note, it's been five days since we destroyed all of the other ship's hopes of winning. Gail got back to her normal job (smelting is her favorite thing to do.) which is smelting pieces for villagers. Alex has gone back to school, and Ellie and I are barely getting by. Nothing's really changed, same story different year. I found a few books that I've read. Of course Ellie goes to school as well, but I can't. Luckily, she taught me to read. I know what you're thinking, 'HAHAAH! Your sister which is SIX taught you to READ!?' But trust me, learning to read isn't easy if you aren't below ten years old. It's actually a pain in the ass, sort of like listening to unintelligent Chicken Chasers, which have come here once in a while.

Everything was back to normal. I kept forging, getting good at it too. I got a raise and a promotion in the same week! Now I try to help the other apprentices in the smith. It makes me a hefty sum of gold it does! I have to pay for blankets, Stuart… oh dammit, now I call it Stuart! Ever since that bear's been in the house she's been driving me up the wall! I HATE THAT BEAR! IT IS AN ABOMINATION OF ALL MAN KIND! You know what she tried to do? She tried to teach it to SWIM! How do you teach a stuffed bear to swim!?

Anyways, like I tried to say before until I remembered that unpleasant memory, everything is back to normal. I got us blankets, new beds… I even painted our shack! Now I need to pay for flooring because I hate those damn ants! Why in our house? I can't tell you how many times I've literally blown the anthill to Hell! I've poured a barrel of gunpowder on it, and then had Gail build a frame to hold it in. The frame was destroyed in the process, so I drowned them to stop any other fire hazards.

Normal, normal, normal, normal… Boom. That's how the days were. For FOUR DAYS everything was normal.

It was another day, (the third day, actually) and I was taking a stroll by the beach. Ellie was still in school and I decided to skip a few rocks on a thin sheet of ice forming around the island. At least the sheet will melt from the salt, and then we'll be able to have ships come again. I stayed down there, thinking about what King said. The words echoed in my ears like a thunderstorm on a silent plain. _I got rid of those hollow men! _They might not have been his exact words, but it seemed so long ago. I looked at the crystal blue sea, the blonde sand and the twilight greeting the sun. I couldn't keep my eyes off it. I sat on a large piece of driftwood, and I started to ponder deeply. Why did King really come here? Fat chance he 'got lost' like he said he did. I kept thinking until I noticed something. I'm sitting on driftwood. I stood up quickly, and saw a name engraved into the side. It said 'Mary Lou'. It sounded familiar, but I shook it off and looked around the beach for any trinkets of any kind. I found a ring, but it looked like a present, so I didn't touch it. People on this island believe if you try to take things that aren't yours, you should be ashamed. I almost stepped away from it as if it was an abomination. I walked onwards only to be disappointed of any finds worthwhile. I sighed angrily and kept walking for a few minutes. I looked onto a weird type of ornament only to be disgusted and shocked beyond belief. It was a head.

I don't know how. I don't know why. Hell, I wasn't even looking for trinkets anymore! I was looking for survivors. As I walked more, body parts washed upon the shore. Mangled bodies with clawed flesh decorated the once-happy beach. The ice melted faster than I anticipated. It must be because of those body parts floating around. It's amazing that I found only two bodies that weren't destroyed. One was one of King's companions. The other was King. When I found him, I saw his leg removed, and he was cut badly in the shoulder. I checked for a pulse, and then tried to pump the water out of him. After a few minutes, he coughed up a huge pile of a mixture of salt water and vomit. He finally looked up at me, and smiled. "This sucks, dunnit?" his smooth voice was now reduced to a scratchy, rough and weak one.

"You bet your ass old man. C'mon, we're gonna take you back to the town."

"What of the crew?" he cluelessly asked.

"Um… I think the closest to a crew you'll get is the mass sea of body parts floating around." He looked around frightfully and then vomited even more. "Well, now that you're stomach is empty, I think you might be able to stand Jessica's cooking." I almost smiled on a happy memory of burnt beef at Jessica's house, but then remembered the legless King next to me. We began the long trek back, and he started to cry. I wanted to cry, but couldn't so I kept walking. If only those eyes didn't look like they were pleading to me as if my hand could make them rise to life.

By the time we got back to the village, King was delirious. I almost broke the Town Hall door when I kicked it in. I guess I looked pretty scary. Thirteen year old kid, blood all over him, and a half dead man missing a leg right next to him. I would've pissed my pants, that's for sure. Jessica figured it out very fast. "You were attacked by pirates?"

"Yes… all that's *Wheeze* left from my crew is *Wheeze* on the shore."

"King, please next time don't be a decoy."

"What 'next time' Jesse? Look at me? I look like Balverine chow!" he roared. "What the hell do you mean by 'no next time'?! There were other times!?" I was angry.

"No, Heath you-"

"Then what in the Light's name was going on dammit!?" I was steaming. "After Reaver attacked us, we had to have decoys to help us determine where they were." She explained. "So you pay them money to go kill themselves?" I passive aggressively said to her. "Listen, we had no idea it would be this serious."

"What's so serious? Oh yeah, there are millions of disassembled people on the shores." I ranted. "Oh yes, and also remember gold makes everything so much freaking better! I can't believe what was going on for you to send them out to a death at sea!?" I would've continued but Jessica shouted at the top of her lungs "Shut up!" I was taken aback. Jessica never said shut up to anyone. One time a guy really pissed her off, but the closest she got to cursing was when she knocked his two front teeth out that came with a bloody nose.

"Listen! We have a crisis here! What we're going to be facing is going to be worse than 40 Reavers!" I couldn't possibly imagine what could be worse than TWO Reavers. They'd be arguing about who was more gorgeous or some shit like that. I wouldn't even stand to be listening to the conversation. "So. What's the crisis?" I was no longer doubtful. I wanted to know what was going on. "You know that huge octopus you killed?"

"Not us, the other crew."

"Yeah, anyways," she continued, "imagine a dragon, but it has those tentacles. That's the Kraken. Now, imagine a giant bee. Also imagine at least sixty of those, plus bandits, and a large army of hollow men. Now also imagine at the head of them, a newly created Blades."


	5. Three days, Two swords, One Blades

**Most of the structures, buildings, and landmarks are basically the Hero's Guild in the first Fable except for a few new things. Also, about the spells, it pisses me off that in Fable 2 there are at least half of the skills, monsters, and game time compared to the first Fable! Remember Bargate Prison? I do more than anything, because it was a pain in the ass to do! Remember the onslaught of side quests? Remember all the time it took to master ONE spell? Also I distinctly remember a main antagonist that you see frequently and can actually fight… JACK OF BLADES! I mean, come ON! Lucien is the worst antagonist ever! Well, sorry for droning on about the disappointments of Fable II, but here is chapter 13!**

Chapter 13: I hate school

I had a great sleep, but an awful wake up call. "Wake up apprentices!" Christopher banged a pot in my ear. "It's too early."

"You're an apprentice now, so get up and I'll be your guide." He squinted his eyes even tighter. "Get up." I didn't want to get him angry, so I got up and hurried to put on some robes. "Follow me to breakfast." He strode off, leaving me to catch up. I limped as fast as I could, but barely kept his fast pace. We walked down a stairway to the mess hall. "When the first Guild was destroyed, some ruins remained. We've tried our absolute best to replicate the former Guild." Chris explained. "The only real part left of the guild is the Chamber of Fate and you have to go through about a mile of tunnels to get there." I nodded whenever he passed out random facts like on how the Guild master was trying to create a way to make a Demon Door to earn a high ranking of a Hero. It is important because," I stopped paying attention. I was busy eating some decent food. Soup, bread, sandwiches, and even a chicken leg! "Do you get this food every day?"

"Yes but-"

"AWESOME!" I gulped down all my food. He sighed. "Let's go see if your weapons are as special as you are."

We walked to a large room, filled with books and scrolls. Two large tables were surrounded by chairs. "This is the Archives. Every quest, legend, and piece of history is listed here." His hands rose up. Christopher scurried up a ladder and threw down a large book. "That's the weapons lore book." I had to use both my arms to pick it up. As soon as I set it onto a table, Christopher came down. "Now, let's see these weapons." He examined the white blade. He studied the book for a few minutes. "This is… unknown to the book." I raised my eyebrow. "I thought you said that all the weapons were listed here?"

"They are, it's probably just a blade someone forged in a remote town or something." He picked up the black blade. "The only sword that this one could be is the Maelstrom, but we have no idea where that sword is." He shook his head. I snatched the black blade and took the white one. "Wait… one light and one dark. Let's see the book again." He studied the book a few more minutes and left me to walk around the Archives. I ran my finger among tons of books that decorated the shelves like a thick blanket. It wasn't long though, until I heard his voice again.

"Hey! Get over here, this is really important!" he yelled. I was at his side and he pointed his forefinger at a grey sword that was richly illustrated. "These two swords… they're actually Twinblade's!"

"Who the hell is that?"

"Was. Twinblade was a bandit king. He lived in the time of Jack slayer. He didn't have arms, but instead he had blades. Before he was a bandit king he was a hero. Apparently he helped Jack slayer's sister, Theresa."

"So you're saying…"

"Yes. You are carrying the arms of a bandit king." I shuddered at the thought. "Ironic." I muttered. I strapped the sword(s) onto my back. "Now this rifle… it's very weird. There are no records of even sighting this weapon." I shrugged. "Can we start training now?"

"Fine, follow me."

Many twists and turns were made for us to wind up in a large setting outside. "You see that ring over there?" he pointed to a crudely shaped circle, surrounded by a picket fence. "That's where you'll start training with swords."

"Will it be hard?"

"That's not my place to judge." Chris shrugged. "Just see if you can fight a dummy." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Fine." I hopped over the fence and started swinging at the lifeless doll.

An hour later Chris came back to examine my work. "How is the dummy coming along?"  
"I don't know…" I pointed at the dummy. I didn't notice during all the swinging, but now that I checked the target, it was ripped to shreds. "Um… you haven't used a sword before, right?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. I have amnesia, remember?" He sighed. "I guess we need to get you started on a different topic. How about…Target practice?" we were at the shooting range. I was freaked out. "At least you're talking again. You haven't said a word for fifteen minutes!" he gave me a stink eye "Shooting targets aren't all that easy. Sometimes even the slightest bit of wind can make your life saving bullet into a death machine." He took my rifle. "Where do you put in the bullets?" he kept examining the gun for a while. He clicked a small switch soon and a block fell off of it. "These are strange bullets. For one, they're sharp. It seems they're meant for attacking a building."

"Well, if they're that strange you won't be able to make bullets for my gun?"

"Oh, we'll be able to. We'll just have to examine one of them." He took out one of the bullets and put the block back where it belonged, a snap heard in the gun. "Can I shoot it before you demolish it?" I impatiently and angrily asked. "Fine." He shoved the gun into my chest. I brought up the gun and started to shoot.

"How the hell do you have that much experience with weapons when you have amnesia?!" Chris yelled, a hint of jealousy in his voice. I shrugged. "I guess I was a good shooter before." He shook off the thoughts of envy. "OK, let's go take you to the Will range." We started to walk past the picket circle, and arrived at the Will range which happened to be a small island that had a circle of dummies on it with a huge circle in the middle of their chests. A monk with glowing blue lines greeted me. "Welcome young student. I am Raven." He took off his hood to reveal a pale face with grey hair. His face had many scars on them that were blocked off by the many blue lines on his body. "Christopher has done well to teach you the basics of weaponry but you will have to train long and hard to achieve control over the Will powers." I nodded, but not a 'whatever' nod. A real nod. Anyways, he kept on explaining about Will. "Will is magic. It is nature, life, death, and a many other great things. Observe." He extended his left hand and lightning flew from his hand to the target, which was fried instantly. "You may be confused about how I did that. Let me tell you a little history lesson first.

"Long ago, when the first guild was destroyed, all the surviving heroes vanished from Albion, never to help its citizens for a long time. However, when The Hero chose Sacrifice, he brought back all the men that died in the making of the Spire. However, what he did not know is that he also revived all the heroes hiding inside the first spire. He never specified which Spire, so both of the Spire's occupants were spared. The Archon that made the first wish wasn't spared because he was at the center of the Spire, and the loophole was created. The surviving heroes (which were about 300) decided to recreate the Guild. That is how this guild was created (also with the help of The Hero and the raw veins of Hero blood). All the surviving heroes can be found here today. I am one of them. I am a Will master. You've heard of Garth? Well, he may be the Hero of Will, but he only has a fraction of the many spells I possess. He had only eight spells at his disposal. I have at least eighteen!" He ranted on and on about the flaws of common conception of Will and how he was going to teach me how to use it.

"You need to know which spells surround you, heal you, strengthen you, and even hurt you. We can't just let you handle the keys of destruction yet. Now, the way to fire lightning is when I charge up the molecules in my hand…" We had countless lessons like this. I learned how to prepare the spell, how to cast it repeatedly, how to make it surround me, how to even use it to fry a little bit of meat! It took me at least a month of training to have a 'decent' sized lightning bolt. When I say decent, I mean it can make dummies fall down. When I showed Raven this he laughed heartily. "Good job. You've mastered the basics of how to shoot lightning. Now we move onto maintaining the bolt, and surrounding yourself with it." I moaned in protest as another two weeks flew by, my studies filled with mentally impossible tasks. It's not all that easy to shoot lightning out of your hand!

All in all, it took me at least two months to master the shock spell. Raven shook my hand when I made the dummy fry with a sizzle. "Believe it or not, you are a fast learner." I gave him a doubtful look. "Now, we need a new spell to study. You choose the powers, and I will help you learn it." As he said that, walking away from the small training island, I looked at my hands. They were grubby, covered with dirt and a pair of gloves. I was thinking "Did I really do that?"

The next few spells I learned were Enflame, Fireball, Divine Might, Unholy Might, Vortex, and Blades. It took me three months for Enflame, one month for Fireball, and five months for Divine Might and four for Unholy Might. It took me eight months to master Vortex. The last spell I learned was Blades. All in all, it took me twenty three months to learn those spells. During that time, Raven taught me how to meditate. Here's how I learned:

"Nameless, to truly meditate you need to block out all the sounds of Earth. You must be calm, and think of absolutely nothing. If you maintain that, you can slow down your heart beat. You can also hide your blue lines." We were sitting on two stumps in Brightwood Forest. Ruins surrounded us on all sides. I looked at the mysterious blue lines that decorated my body that was strengthened by the year at the Guild. "Why do Will lines show, Master Raven?"  
"Will lines are like a title. They are yours and no one else's. No two patterns are the same. They tell your life. They tell when you discovered life, and embraced the power of Will. It also sometimes shows you how you will die." He stabbed his finger into my chest. "They are created by your soul. The Lines were always there. They only show due to your exposure to magic." He explained to me. "So, Nameless, try to meditate. Have fun." He took a book out of his robes, sat down and started to read. That was the day I began to meditate… or at least try to. "To learn how to use Will, you need to learn to become in touch with yourself." Raven talked as he read his book. I closed my eyes tightly. I tried not to think. My failed attempts were met with a smack from Raven's hand. By the time I mastered it, I was covered in bruises.

Raven and I were at the small island. "You will learn Blades today." Blades was a really tough spell to learn. You had to summon swords out of nothing and then send them out. "To master this spell you must have great patience. The first step is shaping the sword. Use your Will powers to shape it." I concentrated on making a sword, but I made a round shape instead. "Ok… You're doing well for a beginner. Close your eyes and shape it." I obeyed immediately and closed my eyes. I imagined running my fingers on Twinblade's swords and sculpted freely. "Are you sure that is your shape?"

"Yes Raven." I opened my eyes to see a freakish ball bouncing around. "Damn it!"

It took be most of the time to learn how to shape the damned thing. "OK, shape the sword." I thought of the sword. "Is that your shape?"

"You've asked me that every time we test this spell. Yes!"

"Very well." I opened my eyes to reveal a dark ominous blade in front of my face. "Why is it black? Aren't they supposed to be a different color?"

"I think it's because your past is associated with a dark blade. That, or it is your future." I pondered about it, but shook off the thought. "Now, fire it at the tree." He pointed at a tree close by. I fired the sword at it, and it sunk in with a pleasant sound. "Good Nameless! Now can you create two at once?" I moaned as the pain of education came once more.

During all that time, I also trained with Christopher. He said I had a good shot, but not the best. "You can't always rely on magic. The true weapons of Heroes are made of steel." He brought a fist up and clenched it strongly. I always sighed when he made some pointless point (no pun intended). Every day I trained with guns of every kind, every weapon of steel, and with Will power. If you have all of those put together, you have a Guild of hell!


	6. Third Day

Chapter 14

Raven and I were sitting on two stumps in the middle of Brightwood once again. I was meditating and he was reading another book. "What book do you read every single day? You should've finished it by now." I always wondered that. "Well, it's a very long book." He lifted it up, but it looked small. "That's a lie. You know that book is short. Can't you read?"

"Yes!" he was very angry at me. "Never mind." He turned away and folded his arms. I crept over and snatched the book from him. "HEY!" he shouted. I laughed and chuckled as I ran off, trying to read the contents of the book. It wasn't big, its text was very small that covered the entire page. I kept running, hearing the twigs and branches snapping behind me. "Get back here!" he snarled. I ran and ran until I came to a large clearing. I listened to the forest… nothing. Something was wrong. In the forest you should hear thousands of sounds, but I only heard an eerie silence. Slowly, I drew my black sword and laid the book onto the ground. Bushes started to shake and I jumped towards it, revealing a small rabbit. I sighed deeply. "Bugger." I walked away from the bush, chuckling. A twig snapped. I turned but barely deflected the broadsword that was aimed for my head. "Damn it." I swiftly kicked the bandit's face, knocking out several of his teeth. He flailed wildly, cursing loudly. I yelled loudly. "Raven!" another sword appeared out of mid air. "Die already!" I slashed the bandit's head clean off. Another one jumped at me and was met with a Fireball to the face. "I'm sick of this." I prepared a Vortex which started to wave the trees around, making cracks among the trunks. "Crap." I awed at the vastness of the bandits. There were about fifty in all (not counting the three at my feet.) and were flying around as the tornado tossed them about, breaking bones, trees, and wrecking havoc. "You bastard!" a particular bandit shouted. He was very tall and wore a long black cloak that seemed to consume the rest of his body. "You killed too many of my friends already." I looked upon the bloody masses around the trees. He saw a violent look on me, so he started to run and more bandits dropped from the trees.

"Go Chief!" voices rang out. They sharpened their swords on me, but I easily deflected most of them and then responded with a quick stab. Five of them were on me at once, so I had to draw my white sword to counter the blows that were aggressively given to me. After a few failed attempts, half of their men lay on the forest floor and had small orbs dribbling from them. Some were yellow, blue, red, and green. They inched back, but broke into a sprint. I started to go after the bandits.

It was fairly easy to track them, they left a great many heavy footprints. I walked across large ruins. Bridges spanned wide across the broken stone fortresses that amassed the forest. Of course I left an easy trail to find, for Raven would've been greatly upset. I walked past the bridge, and found a long slope that led down into a small camp. It was just a huge hole in the ground with a ramp. Many bandits were there, mourning for their friends. Friends… that's when it hit me. I slowly looked upon my hands that were stained with blood. My blades were coated in it, and the orbs from the corpses followed me, and whenever they touched me, odd memories popped up. I hated them, and kept running from them whenever they came near. I felt like crying.

I wiped off the tears, and decided that it would be over with soon. The bandits also had slaves. Only a couple and they were strange. They were a girl that looked my age, and a tall man with dark brown skin. They were stuck in cages in the middle of the camp, near a large tent. The familiar black figure came out of it, and stood in front of the captives. He must've been having a horrible conversation, because a look of disgust and embarrassment came onto his face. He spun around soon and headed for his tent. That bandit camp was quiet then. Night came over the land and that was when I decided that now was the time to strike.

Preparations were simple enough. I cut about three fourths of a trunk off and had a ridiculous amount of rope, but it worked. I made these preparations as the man was talking to the prisoners, which were quite a good distraction. I pulled slowly on the ropes. The tree started to groan with pain. I smiled as it fell down on the opposite end of the hole as I. "Get the Chief!"

"Intruder!" I heard the shouts among the men. They ran to the tree, looking puzzled. After I was satisfied with results, I jumped down to greet any bandit with steel and Will, which actually happened twice, but they're dead now. It seemed I didn't think about killing until the battle was over, but the battle wasn't over quite yet. Bandits began to flood the camp as I approached the large tent. The tall man came, but unexpectedly opened the cage and pressed a knife to the girl's neck. "Get on the ground now, or she dies." The girl didn't fuss or scream. She just mouthed the words 'Do it'. I was confused, for no one doesn't fear death. "You see these blades?" I questioned him. "Do you know who they belong to?" he still pressed the knife. "Twinblade." He stopped for a moment, which was all I needed. I released a small Vortex that sent him sprawling and cursing. The girl flew into the air and fell on the ground. She was out cold. "You little…" the tall man began. Before he could finish, I released another tornado. The bandits surrounded me, and struck all at once. They all met the same fate, which was a deep pit that dragged them into the Underworld. The tents disappeared, which left the black cloaked bandit all by himself.

"Spare me!" he pleaded. I looked at the orbs slowly drifting to the surface of the ground. "No!" a yell shook the valley. Raven approached from behind me, and knocked me on the head. "What the hell happened here?" he roared. "You took my book!" he snatched my swords. The bandit had a sign of great relief, but soon met Raven's fist. "Why are there so many experience orbs here?" I tilted my head in confusion. "Uh… they came out of the corpses and keep following me around! Why do they keep giving me memories?!" I yelled. "Do you know what his name is?" I pointed at the unconscious bandit. "I know his name, his father's name, and every single man that I just killed, and I've never even met these people!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Why?!"

"Well… a Hero's greatest strength is also his curse. In every story of legend, Hero's get their strength from an unknown source. Well, the source is obviously from the men, women, and creatures he or she killed. By gaining all of their memories, you have gained more knowledge and strength." He punched my arm. "That would normally have hurt, right? Well, by gaining all their memories, you know how to take hits, beatings, and suffering. It is greatly unnatural for someone your age to be exposed to these many orbs."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. You just killed an army of bandits, saved Albion trouble, and even stopped them from making slaves out of its citizens. This should've been a quest that Heroes gain glory from. You can probably get your guild seal soon and complete official quests!" I thought about it. I would be respected. "I also hear they're allowing Heroes to carry all of their weapons now!" I looked forward to the day of graduation. Unfortunately, my visions of glory were cut short when I had a little meeting of my face and the ground.

"Wow… he massacred all the bandits?" a deep voice called.

"It wasn't his fault. He was using the black blade over the white one…" Raven spoke.

"I don't care if he lost control! He saved our lives!" a very familiar voice rang. Soft hands touched my eyes, and I slowly opened them. "He awakes!" I jump up and boy, do I feel embarrassed. "Uh… sorry." I stammered, scratching my head. "It's OK!" a young girl wore a long white robe with red trims. A hood lay on her back, and her long auburn hair was tied back in a long ponytail. She had brilliant green eyes but seemed to be staring intensely on something. "Why were you touching my face?" she blushed. "I'm blind…" I almost slapped myself. "It's OK though, most people don't know. I only recently lost my sight. Damn those clothing dyes."

"I wish I could tell you my name, but I have amnesia."

"No way! We're the people who found you!" she cheered. I stared in disbelief. "You're kidding me… right?"

"No. We aren't young bandit slayer." The quiet man finally came into the conversation. "I am James. We've come in search of new housings because the Temple of Shadows attacked Oakfield recently, and we don't feel like fighting off shadows."

"We have room at the Guild." Raven offered. "You look like a man who is used to hard work." My teacher added. "We could give you a well paying job. We have plenty of spaces, so you can choose whichever one you prefer." James pondered on it. "Why not?" he shrugged. "What about that bandit?"

"Let's take Darrell with us, shall we? I'm sure your Guild Master would LOVE to ask some questions." Taking James' advice, Raven quickly tied him up. "Lead the way, mages."

Even though we lead the way, it seemed that the girl was a pretty good fighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Jackie." She smiled at me. Darrell started coughing the words "FLIRTS!" which resulted in a swift kick from me. A few times we ran into about three Hobbes. Now, when I said Jackie was a good fighter, I meant she killed a Hobbe. One brushed her foot and she broke its neck by stomping on it repeatedly. "I… hate… Hobbes…" she blushed and quickly turned her head away. "Remind me not to make her angry, will you?" Raven tried his best to hold in his chuckle, but to no avail. That got a quick thump from James. "Why'd you do that?!" My mentor angrily shook his fist. "I felt like it." James grinned.

When we finally arrived, it was the late afternoon and we were greeted by an entourage of apprentices. We stood in the middle of the bridge when they all came pouring out like ants. "It's about time you showed up!" Christopher walked up to me, patting me on the back. "So, what took you so long?"

"I'll tell you later." I brushed off his hand and accompanied Raven to the Guild Master's office.

"So… Raven. What the hell took you?!"

"A large amount of bandits were stationed in Brightwood forest. My apprentice," he pointed at me, "killed them all. We actually brought back a prisoner." Raven yanked on the rope, almost knocking Darrell on the ground. "Damn it! What the hell's your problem?!"

"Shut up." The Guild Master kicked him in the gut. "Who is the Bandit King?"

"You should know him!" Another kick was delivered. "Who? Is? It?" he said slower. "Bah, you'll never know." This time he wound up the kick, sending Darrell halfway across the room. "I won't tell you!" I didn't want to hear to any more violent interrogations, so I stepped forth and made a small Fireball in my hand. "OK! OK! The Bandit King isn't actually one person! It's our lead council which basically controls all operations in, out, and around Albion. The Bandit King is now going to have its first meeting in five decades. They're going to be introducing some new… 'interesting' members to our ranks. They'll all be meeting in the Cow & Corset in two weeks." He chuckled. "You won't stand a chance!" Raven took a pistol mounted on the wall and hit the back of his head with the butte of it. "So… we need to send someone in to deal with this… Bandit King. Nameless, you obviously did very well on assaulting the bandit camp. For that deed, I'm promoting you to a Hero! You'll be the youngest Hero ever, and also you'll still be able to stay here until you have enough money to pay for a house!" The Guild Master grabbed my shoulders tightly. "You are going to be a great influence on Albion. I'll get the graduation ceremony ready." He grinned toothily and shooed us out of his office, still leaving Darrell inside, probably still going to receive abuse.

When I left the office, I went to my room to relax only to find Christopher. I smiled and said "I'm going to graduate."

"YOU'RE GRADUATING?!" Chris yelled. "You're kidding, right? I still have to wait TWO YEARS to graduate!" his voice was thick with admiration and jealousy. "Don't worry, I'm staying anyways. It's not like you get a hundred thousand gold pieces for graduating." I chuckled. "I hope you stay here. It'll be too boring." His squinted eyes almost opened as he pleaded, but he made them clamp tighter. "However, since I am a Hero now, I guess I'll be taking a few quests. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find somewhere to settle down if I get sick of life on the road."

"Maybe… anyways, who was that girl?"

"She was going to be sold as a slave. She's blind too, so fate must've been fairly cruel." He nodded. "Anyways, when is the celebration?"

"I don't know… I'm just going to hang around here to see if there's anything I can do."

"That sounds cool. I'm going to have to go practice my skills some more." He sighed as he rose up and left the room. Before he left, he said over his shoulder, "I'm very glad you're graduating." and then closed the door, separating me even further from my best friend.


	7. Settling in

Chapter 7: Settling in

After Jessica hesitantly gave Gail the staff's crystal, we've been speeding right along the coast. Gail said that if we went any faster, we'd hit the rocky coasts of Albion. "Whatever happened to Gordon?" Ellie spoke up, breaking the long silence in the large submarine. "Well, he was among the first to go, so he'll be waiting for us at the Cow and Corset. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a decent meal." Gail kept her eyes forward, taking off her goggles, and the silence returned.

Every once in a while, we'd see a ship or two, almost looking as if they were lost. They drifted slowly across the ocean, making it look like a painting. I heard a small whimper from my bag as I lifted up the small pooch to greet everyone. "I guess this is our dog now." Ellie decided. She loved animals. That's why she was trying to teach the stuffed bear to swim. "Does it have any fleas?" Jessica lifted her eyebrows. "I hope it doesn't. I don't want to go the whole way to Bowerstone all itchy." Jessica continued, eyeing the pathetic creature. Gail finally said "Even if it does have fleas, they would've died in the cold at Knothole." That left the conversation dead, leaving any type of emotion with it.

Gail once said it would take two minutes to get to Bowerstone, but now since our little stop to put the crystal in the engine, we got off track. "Did you find out where we are yet?" I walked up to see her with the scope on one eye and the map near the other. "Well, I think we're right here." She pointed on a gap between a huge landmass. "You have a compass, right?" she slowly nodded. "Yeah, but I don't really rely on them. Too much theory." She shrugged. "Well, show me the compass and it'll be easy to get to Bowerstone." She slowly handed me the compass, as I looked at it I realized we were headed south. "Turn around. We're going south instead of north." She punched a gap in the dashboard angrily. "Damn." Ellie and Jessica were in the back, completely oblivious to the fact that we were going in the wrong direction.

"Maybe I should have the map now." I convinced her soon enough and she handed me the map. "Ok, go into our top speeds now." She pulled the small handle colored brightly red, and I was pushed back into my seat. We waited for at least five minutes until we saw Knothole Island again. We slowed down to pay our respects. "Well, it seems you were right Heath." Gail was always used to being right, so this was hard for her. "We need to get to the Bowerstone harbor now. I don't want to run into that-" my voice was cut off by a huge thud on the submarine. "What was that?" Jessica asked. More thuds were heard. "Get us out of here!" I yelled. "I'm trying!" she seemed to be in a trance, pushing a lot of buttons but still we went nowhere. I looked through the scope to see the monstrous figure that threw the guard, looking. Right. At us.

Now I'm a very… censored kind of guy but at that moment I unloaded a parent's nightmare. "!" I yelled. Gail smiled knowing exactly what was grabbing us. She flipped a red lever and we were flying right through a Kraken. Once again using the scope, I looked back at the Kraken's huge wound, and Knothole's deserted island.

Bowerstone was a huge town. Many people were working very hard, selling, buying, and I even saw a few people begging for money even though it seemed they were filthy rich. "Finally!" Jessica expressed joy as she opened the hatch when Gail gave the 'OK'. "Fresh air at last!" Ellie was complaining for the whole trip that it was really stuffy in the submarine. I climbed the small ladder leading to the surface, which was when I started to look at the large city. "No wonder its Albion's capitol!" I managed to say after a few minutes of admiring the view. We made it to the docks soon, and I stepped off still having those lousy sea legs, which were quite a bother.

I soon became very hot because of all the clothing I had on me. I quickly took off many sheets of clothing and left them in our submarine. Ellie and Jessica quickly followed, leaving us with a more comfortable feeling. Gail didn't really have to take any coats off because she's been evacuating villagers for quite a while. "Hey Gail," I wanted to ask her something. "Where are all the Knothole refugees?"

"Well, some left for the gypsy camp, and the guards are notifying the Guild, and most of the villagers spread out across the land. I've even heard some went to Oakfield." She quickly recited as if they were told to her. "C'mon, my father doesn't want to wait for us." Gail skipped happily. Ellie shoved the rifle into my hands, and then joined up with Gail, leaving me with Jessica trying to keep up with them. "Why aren't you happy that we're here?" Jessica asked me as we walked to the inn. "Well, Gail's happy wherever her dad is, and Ellie's happy to be here probably because we won't be so… unique." I chose my words carefully. "You are more mature than you know." She replied, walking ahead of me. I didn't really take meaning to the words, so I brushed off the life lesson.

"Gail!" Gordon was a kind man. He was the person who came up with the submarine idea, which benefitted everyone, and also made many items in Jessica's shop. "Hello, dad!" a long hug was made between the two. "Ah, Heath! It's good to see you again!" we shook hands very politely. "Don't think I forgot about you, Ellie!" he soon rubbed her head like a pet. Speaking of pets, my dog was cowering in fear in my pocket. "Hello old friend." Jessica smiled and Gordon just sort of shrugged. "People do say cockroaches survive many things."

"And they also say grease monkeys don't know when to shut up." They laughed heartily, and hugged. I could see how they were, which was like Gail and I. "Well, let's get set up here." Gordon rubbed his hands mischievously. "I am very successful, as you know, so I can buy you each a house." He handed deeds to Jessica and I. "Obviously, I don't think you'd be living in an inn for half your life!" He smiled cheerfully. "Since I'm the landlord, you won't have to pay a single gold piece." That made me very happy. "So, where do we live now?"

"Well. Heath, you live at the house in between the Alchemist's shop and the Book store. He pointed at the house exactly where he described it. "Jessica, you live right next to the inn," he didn't really have to explain anything for that "and we'll be living across the street from the barber's shop." He walked us to our new homes, which were great. Hardwood floors, two nice beds, and Gordon even made one of his refrijorators for us. (Yes I know I spelt it wrong. This is Fable II after all!) I quickly stored some meat, fish, and also a little bit of celery. He left us in our own wide house, which we loved very much.

We went to sleep after we were settled in, and also after a few trips to get all the clothes from the submarine. Life was better. If I didn't know better, I would've thanked for that unfortunate event to put us in a great living style. The beds were wonderful. The next morning, I decided to go to the book shop to see what interesting books they might have. "G'morning!" the owner greeted me. "What can I do for ya?"

"Well, I'd like so see your collection of books." I wanted to see everything. "Well, today we have quite a few products. We have dog training books, perilous ed. books… heck, we even have some of Meredith Sock's work." I scanned the bookshelves, taking quite a few of the dog training books. I also took a few books for Ellie like 'The history of Lord Lucien' and a more childish one which was the 'Sock puppet skills'. I took at least thirteen books, paying all the gold needed. "You're quite the reader, eh?"

"Yup… that's me." I slowly arose, grabbing the hefty load. "Do you need any help?" He asked me, my face hidden by the tower of books. "Nope. I'm fine for now."

I walked back to our house, tiptoeing when I entered, hoping not to wake Ellie up. I set down the books on our empty bookshelf, and went out again to buy some other supplies. I bought more vegetables, fruit, meat, two pies, and returned to the house again to deposit the food. I threw the dog a small bit of beef, and it started gnawing on it. Then I went to the General store to buy a deck of cards, and a few boxes of dog treats. Everything was being set up, and soon I decided it was time to buy some clothes. I jingled the money I got from the raise, and noticed it was starting to deplete. On a second thought, I left the money there, as well as a note telling Ellie I'd be looking for a job.

"Hey, what're you doin' here?" The blacksmith obviously didn't know how good I was at forging. "I want to apply for a job. Preferably weapons… augmented ones at that, and also a few machine parts."

"I hope you don't mind if I say I don't believe ya."

"I don't. In fact, I'll make you all those things I just talked about right now." The smith raised an eyebrow. "I'll give you the things you need." He soon came back with a hot weapon, right out of the fire. "Make this augmented." He said. I soon started chipping away some spots in the hilt, and soon worked my way up to make a fine blade, if I do say so myself. "Wow. You got the job. I have never EVER seen anyone make four augment slots." He shook his head in disbelief. "I'll pay you… 100 gold per sword. Now, can you make machinery?" he handed me some scraps of metal needed to make the clockwork of the pistol. A few minutes later, the same result. "You get 40 gold per gun. Get to work!" I smiled when he couldn't see me, and happily started my career as a blacksmith once again.

"Heath! Brother! Where are you?" My little sister yelled into the smith's about five hours after I woke up. "I'm right here Ellie. How did you sleep?" I took two chairs for us to sit on. "I slept fantastically! I love the beds and the sheets… everything! I brought our dog. He wanted to see you!" I didn't ask how she knew this. She handed me the small lab, and I started to pet him. "We need to find a school for you. You need to keep your education in mind." I said to her as I chose another blade from the heated stack. "Brother, now that we don't have to pay for our house, you can go to school now!" I thought deeply for a moment. School? I couldn't see myself there. "No, it's already too late. I'm thirteen, and I have no experience with school other than being able to read."

"Well I don't want to go to school either." We've already had this discussion once, a long time ago. When she was starting out, we had this same exact discussion, except I had to work. "Listen, I'll be fine. Just learn all you can from school." I gripped her shoulders in a parentish way. "Fine… but we do have to name the mutt." She changed the subject very quickly. "How about… Dakota?" She shrugged. "I'll get a collar!" she yelled and ran towards the General store.

The smith came back just as Ellie left. "You have any family? I wouldn't expect a young kid to know how to forge."

"We're orphans. It's been hard on us, but we get by."

"I heard you uh… were friends of Gordon. Are ya?" I nodded in response. "Well, how much have ya made so far?" he indicated the blades. "I've made about 20 swords. Three have no augments, four have two augments, six of them have three augments and the rest have four. I've also made about six guns. Two have no augments, two has two augments, and the last two have three augments." The smith inspected all the weapons and soon smiled. "You get about…"

"2000 gold for the swords, and 240 gold for the guns." I finished. "You're good at math. Do you go to school?"

"No but my little sister taught me to read. Speaking of her…" a small figure ran into the shop again, with a pleading sign with her hands. "I need some money to get the collar." I handed her 100 gold pieces. "You can get the collar and also some chocolates from the gift shop." She shrieked in excitement. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ellie, his little sister." She curtsied and then ran off before he could reply. "You're quite the family." He said, awed at the color of her hair. I shrugged. "We get that a lot."


	8. Kicking an Ass's Ass

_**REVIEWS! GIVE ME REVIEWS!**_

Chapter 8: Kicking an Ass's Ass.

Bowerstone happens to be the most wonderful city. After I dropped Ellie off at school which I soon enrolled her in, I had plenty of time to start learning the alleyways, the twists and turns of the streets, and even the small garden patches from time to time. The whole place was enchanting. I did get quite a few looks from the villagers, but who could blame them? The clothes I wore were unusual for them. I thought to myself "Maybe I should find some better clothes." I found some clothing shops very fast. I decided to buy some more casual clothes. After a little while, I finally got the clothes I wanted. (In Fable II you'd know them as the Explorer's outfit + the high roller's coat.) They were very comfortable, and I walked off with a spring in my step.

Soon I decided to go to Old Town to see where The Hero spent his childhood. To be truthful there wasn't much to see. The houses were the same, his statue was still erected high, and it even had beggars. I was a little disappointed. I saw Castle Fairfax from a great view. However, I shrugged it off and continued onwards. While I was walking down the road, I started to join a large group of people. After five minutes in Old town I felt a sharp, metallic edge digging into my back. I sighed and smiled remembering I only brought enough gold for new clothes. "Don't even think about running."

"Don't have to." I grabbed the wrist holding the dagger, and spun it around until I heard a distinctive crack. The figure cursed violently and fled into the large crowd. I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and kept walking to return to the market.

I left the small episode behind me and I didn't care much about what happened. People get mugged all the time. "Maybe I should start to carry my swords with me." I thought to myself, thinking of all the criminals that could be waiting in Bowerstone. "Heath!" I saw Jessica walking towards me, and still with no makeup. "Hey. How do you like your house?"

"It's good. I still think I'd prefer Knothole." She shrugged.

"At least Gordon set us into nice homes. I got a job as a blacksmith, and earned about 2000 gold the other day. I guess four augment slots are pretty valuable here even though it must've been quite a long time since they've needed any swords." She soon retorted "But, you'll never know when you'll need a sword." She always had to say the last word. "I have to go do something." She said. She ran off, turning heads as she went.

As soon as I got home, I saw the pooch begging me for food. This was when I decided it was time for dog training 101. I took a few of the books out and tried to teach this mutt a few tricks. There is an old saying that says you can't teach an old dog any new tricks. Have you ever teaching a new dog any old tricks? It's basically the same concept. "Sit!" Dakota stared at me dumbfounded. "Sit!" I repeated the same word over and over again. A few times I even sat down to show it what to do. The dog remained still as a stone. I sarcastically brought up food and it sat down. "Good boy." I threw the small scrap of meat towards Dakota and he ate it all up. "One trick down… nine to go." I almost face palmed myself.

After an hour or two, Ellie came back home, and looked horrid. Her hair was a frizzed out, she had several bruises on her arm, while cuts and scrapes decorated her delicate hands. "What happened to you?" I asked her, tenderly looking at her cuts. "I hate school." She folded her arms, trying to hold the tears in. "Who did this?" she wept, clenching her fists. "Jonathan. He's big, mean, and doesn't have any manners." She only wept more as she described him. "How about I go to school with you from now on?" She shook her head. "You don't need to."

"I will until we get this bully problem sorted out." She wiped her eyes. "Promise?"

"I promise." She smiled, and then got some meat scraps for Dakota. "Here boy! Roll over!" he quickly rolled over in several quick successions. That time, I did slap myself in the face, frustration and anger hidden behind my mask of flesh. "Why are you angry he rolled over?"

"You achieve things in three minutes that I tried for two hours with this puppy."

"Puppy dog." She replied. It's hard to live with a young child.

The next morning, I woke up with a fresh feeling in my limbs. Ellie woke me up suddenly, yelling in my ear to get up. Damn bully. "That little bastard is gonna wish he never even saw Ellie." I thought to myself, starting to try to come up with a plan to make this kid's life a living hell. The walk to her school wasn't that bad. Most people think Bowerstone is only made up of the Market, the Gardens, and Old Town. There are actually thousands of more districts we've passed plenty of times. "I still don't believe you just 'want to learn' today brother." She said to me. "You don't always have to be overly protective."

"Did you see yourself? You cried, and looked like Stuart's big cousin fought you." She giggled with amusement.

We arrived early. Ellie always liked things to be early. Presents, parties, meals… the list goes on and on. When the teacher didn't recognize me, I lied and said "I'm an inspector. Don't tell anyone I'm here, I'll keep a close eye on many of the children." He nodded, revealing the fat glob he called his chin. I walked to a small closet, and it had quite the view of the classroom. I could see plenty of things, and most importantly, I could see where Ellie was sitting.

"Class starts now, children!" the teacher called. "Open your books to page…" it was a simple class. A little bit of history, math, and other stuff too I didn't really care about. In the middle of a music lesson, I saw the first move. A rough kid about one or two years younger than me started to jab at Ellie's shoulder with a pencil and hissed "Go back to where you belong!" seeing that spectacle made me want to take out my swords and… well, 'explain' to him what pain means.

Recess was on at about halfway through school hours. I decided to act like a new student, telling the teacher my plans. He simply agreed, and let me go to the school yard. He of course had absolutely no idea what was going on, so that left the perfect opportunity. Ellie was sitting at a little picnic table, while the moron was sitting across from her. "Hey! Swamp girl!" Ellie ignored the little fool. That was when I sat down next to her, ready to strike. "Hey! List'n to me when I'm talkin to ye!" the slurs on his word made him sound like his education was very poor. She still didn't look at him. By then, the bully made a fist, and began to bring it down. That was when I took it and swung him onto the table. "So… you're the little jackass? You've got to be kidding me." He scrambled off the table, and brought out a knife. He swung violently, but I quickly elbowed him in the stomach. "Why are you pickin on me?" he was pathetic. A little idiot pretending he was cool for picking on someone, but quick to expect sympathy.

"Why did you pick on her?"

"She isn't from here!" I brought his hands behind his back, and with my other hand gripped his face and put the ugly thing in front of Ellie. "Have a swing." Remember when I said Ellie was strong for her size? She dominated him. It took one punch. ONE! She swung with her right hand, right into the spot between his nose and his face. On impact, his nose swelled like a balloon, and blood ran like water. Several teeth came loose, and he spat out a vile mixture of blood and saliva. "Ellie, if he ever hurts you, punch him in the face, just like you did just now. OK?" she nodded. I decided it was time to give the punk another little lesson. I grabbed his dirty blonde hair and brought his head up. "Now, if you tell the teacher or anyone else about this, next time it won't be a six year old hurting you. If I ever, ever hear you hurting anyone, I'll knock you out." I slammed his head in to the table, and walked off back to the closet to remain there for the rest of the school day.

Gail wasn't too happy to hear my 'deed'. In fact, when I got home with Ellie, she was waiting right on the front steps. The first thing she said was this. "What the hell were you thinking?!" before I could reply, she brought a speeding fist to my jaw. I took the punch and nearly fell down to the ground. Ellie protested. "There was a bully!"

"Yeah! Gail, you didn't see the damage he did." I shivered, remembering the cuts and bruises. "If I didn't do anything, it would've gotten worse!" I tensed up as I saw her hand create another fist. "Remember Francis?" there was this ass in our village that never knew when to shut up. He always said that Ellie and I were 'abominations' to the Island. Gail soon stood up for me, and slugged him out. We've been friends ever since. "This guy was like five of him! I guess even a city has its prejudice against us." She shut up, and lowered her fist. "Well, I'm sorry. How's your dog?" she quickly changed the subject. "Stuart and him are best friends!" Ellie jumped onto my back. "I thought we named him Dakota." She giggled. "Good. Teaching him tricks was hard at the beginning, but it's easy when you use food." That was the whole conversation, and Ellie was boring quickly and ran inside to do her homework.

"So, whatever happened to Alex?"

"Dad told me that he moved to the Gypsy Camp at Bower Lake."

"That's great. We could really show this town a great fishing tournament." I planted the idea into her head. One of my flaws (millions and millions of flaws) was that I could never do anything I said I would do. That's why I would ask Gail to do it, or plant a seed in her head like I did with the tournament idea. "Well, don't get into any more trouble. And for Pete's sake, don't carry your swords around." My thoughts wandered aimlessly for a few minutes after Gail left. Just one thought really mattered at the moment, and that was on what to eat for dinner.


	9. Filler and Fishing

Chapter 9: Fillers and Fishing

It's been six months and four days since Gail nailed me with her violent fist. I've spent two months teaching Dakota all these tricks I could buy from the book store. Ellie has a straight A+ in every class, and is going to skip an age group. I've currently made 1024 swords for the blacksmith, along with 254 guns. I have over 10,000 gold, and was betting a bit of it in the pub games.

Hero Acolytes from the New Guild are in the town now, recruiting, accepting quests, and only a handful of them are actually allowed to carry weapons. I asked one why he didn't carry any weapons, but he didn't answer. He shuffled his feet, carrying lumber to the blacksmith's. Heroes are really a sensitive bunch. I care not to come close to them. The more wealthy ones are more talkative. They say they only buy the finest of things, but they have rusty weapons that look like a torturer's tools instead of a Hero's might. One of them explained to me that they can only carry weapons if they have permission. He also said that only the elite members have greater weapons. It seems they aren't taking any chances of a repetition of the Old Guild's mistake.

Anyways, life has been kind to us. Jessica still drops by time to time, checking in on us. Our dog has tripled in size, and can now be recognized as a dog instead of a rat. He follows me everywhere, and many elderly folks say I'm the spitting image of The Hero. Wouldn't that be rich, if I somehow became a king? Speaking of ridiculous, King is now in charge of the Cow and Corset, if you were wondering what happened to the oaf. Whenever I have a gambling trip, he steps in if I start to lose too much, which only happened once. I'm sad when he starts talking about his crew, because his happy face is ruined by grim realizations.

The fishing tournament idea was a sensation. As soon as Gail started to hand out flyers, many citizens started to build boats, whaling ships, and even one of them tried to make a sub! Gail and I rounded up Alex one month ago, so now our team was back together. We were really excited to see our submarine actually do something other then get strange looks from citizens.

I also noticed Gordon was making a few visits to Castle Fairfax lately. I remembered the night so long ago. I still remember the Island we forsook. Knothole was the first stepping stone for the new Blades to attack Albion after many years of peace. But, as a wise person once said, peace in Albion is only when there isn't a crisis that affects everyone. I didn't necessarily care if he was drunk, but he was right. Peace was only an illusion weaved so masterfully, thousands believed it.

No one seemed to question when I started to carry around the foreign rifle Jessica gave me, and I felt much safer when I shot a mugger in the foot and he ran like a small disciplined child. However, I was still searching for the bugger that had the nerve to try to mug me.

Oh yeah, Ellie and that bully kid are friends now. His name is Mark, not Jonathan, and he isn't all that bad. It seems that he was just really scared someone foreign (in this case, Ellie and her silver hair) came to the town. He said that it was almost an instinct. That if they made fun of her enough, she'd leave. Well, at least until she destroyed his face. Some of his teeth still hasn't grown back in yet. Whenever I mention it, he shrugs and says "A symbol of my assyness." I chuckle when he isn't looking. Assyness isn't really a good word, is it?

I am living it large, and want to buy a shop. I'm so rich, that I toss 20 gold into almost every beggar's tiny cup. A little bit of real estate would be good for my wealth. When I mentioned the idea to Mark, he scoffed. "You? A shop owner? No offense, but look at yourself!" I still liked to wear the clothes I bought from the clothing shop a while back, and probably didn't look so great. "Don't even start about age, because you're only a few years older than me!" those few words echoed in my head as I bought the furniture store.

I kept the employee who ran the place before, and told her I only needed 15% of the profit. When I told her that she could have the rest, she squealed and hit me, thinking it was a cruel joke. Those were great times, they were.

**The 6 month (in the story) filler is complete!**

I ran down to the furniture store and stared into the windows which beheld the luxurious furniture only meant for those more fortunate.

I looked at the clock tower and slowly shook my head. I tapped my foot impatiently, but soon the Town Crier figured out why I shook my head. I never saw the mischievous smile as he strolled up next to me. "WAKEY WAKEY! IT'S DAY BREAKEY!" I jumped, and punched him in the face. He muttered "So totally worth it." as he walked away into oncoming crowd of villagers that were trying to find their way to get to wherever they were going. I convinced myself that it was normal for such a blockhead to pull off stunts like that. One time, I heard that he painted the inn's windows black so they would think it would always be night. He paid dearly for his assyness.

The fishing tournament was tomorrow, and a familiar sight was being played. Gail was smelting on the submarine, I was working in the forge, and I had plenty of money to spend for whatever I desired. The only thing that was different was that there wasn't an impending doom right at our door. We had at least a few months before it-she hit Bloodstone. I highly doubt that the pirate king Reaver would be able to fend them off the city. "Hey, do you have the new nets?" Gail asked me that a few times over the last few days, expecting me to come up with a revolutionary idea for a net, when actually, I was out of ideas. I didn't have the courage to tell her, so whenever she asked I'd say "I'm working on it." And I quickly changed the subject.

There were many fishing ships in Bowerstone Harbor. Where our lonely submarine once stood out, there were now eight other ships with very strange designs. One of them looked like a duck swimming, another looked like a fish, and one looked as flat as a piece of parchment. I didn't even look at the engines. There was only one fishing boat. When I say a fishing boat, I mean a small, rickety, rough wooden surface and two rowing oars coming out of the side.

The tournament was going to be held in two locations. One of them was right outside the harbor where we could freely use our high speeds. The other one was at Bower Lake and was going to have the entire Hero's Guild and any other audiences watching us, and we couldn't go into high speeds in case of a crash.

Alex didn't get permission to be in the sub with us because his parents didn't want him in any danger. Ellie and I discussed it in our house, but she just said over and over "A spectator's point of view is always more important than the contestants." She made it briefer for me after the millionth time. "I want to watch."

"Oh. Remember when we left the island?" She looked at me in a way that was saying 'Of course I do.' "I'm going to wear the exact clothing and my weapons so I commemorate what happened." She nodded her head and left me alone in the house.

**Day one: Bower Sea**

We were pumped up. When I woke up, I grabbed my two swords, my rifle, and my clothing and got prepared. I latched them all onto my back, and made my way for the submarine. As soon as I got there, Gail was leaning on the wall next to the dock that led to our sub. "There aren't any new nets, are there?" She stared at me. Waiting for an answer. "No." I stiffened up, preparing take a punch. "It's ok. Just don't take it too hard." She bopped me on the head with the flat of her hand and walked slowly to our vessel to victory. "Coming?" She yelled over her shoulder. I ran towards the sub. You know what happened next? She clothes lined me. I landed on my back, feeling stupid. "You shouldn't lie!" Gail jumped into the sub, leaving me on my ass.

Two hours later, everyone arrived. Jessica, King, Alex, Ellie, Mark, Gordon, and of course, all our opponents were there, waiting for the signal to begin. Before we descended into our sub, I saw the other teams attaching guns and spears to their vessels. I paid no attention and tightened the hatch. A pistol was fired into the air, and we were off.

As soon as we left the sight of town, we had the same old routine that we used last time. The only thing was the other teams didn't seem to like us too much. Shells of ammunition bounced off our sub, leaving a hollow echo in it. "What the hell are they doing?!" Gail lowered us under the water. "I say we give them a taste of their own medicine." Gail looked at me with a doubtful look on her face. "Give me the wheel. I think I know how to steer a sub that I helped you build." She reluctantly handed me the controls. "Where are these bastards?" I muttered. I looked through the scope, and found my first target. Ducks were not meant to shoot kids. That's why I put on high speeds to go through their hull. A long metallic groan was heard outside of us as we burst through. "What the hell are you thinking?!" Gail burst out.

"I think we just took one down. Five to go."

An hour passed, and we took down one more ship. It was that rough, crude fishing boat. Despite its appearance, it had a heavy set of guns. We had to take it down by flipping it over. When we realized the time, we sped up to the nets. "How are we going to collect them?" Gail angrily punched the dashboard.

"I'll be right back." I took the rifle and opened the hatch. I poked my head out, searching for the paper ship. I didn't see anything. Soon I was on top of our sub, latching our nets onto the side of our submarine. "Done." I muttered, feeling victorious. I lifted myself up to catch a bullet in my torso. I cried out in pain, and looked for the shooter. All I saw was a small scope, so I shot at it. It shattered instantly. I heard several pangs as I jumped back into the submarine, and locked the hatch. "Oh my gods, Heath!" Gail arose quickly and fear was in her eyes as blood trickled down my shirt. "You're going to be ok! I'll get us there. Don't die… please just don't die…" her voice echoed in my head softly. I felt as if was spiraling down like I was falling.

Something came for me. It was in dark robes, with red eyes. It wore a mask that was completely white. I tried to reach for my rifle, but all I found was sand. I reached for my swords, but I found a measly stick. I punched madly at it, but it snapped me with its sword hilt. "You can't kill me. Many tried, and many failed…" It brought the black sword down. I closed my eyes, accepting my fate.


	10. Deja Vu

Chapter Ten: Deja vu

"Wake up! Don't die! Oh merciful gods, spare him!" I heard a voice clearly. I opened my eyes to see the sword stopped inches above my head. "Don't let him die!" The black figure hissed loudly. "You will not die today. Beware me, for the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky." It jumped at me.

"Don't kill me!" I swung my body up violently. I saw the Bowerstone Docks around me. A group of people were crowded around me. "He's alive!" a cheer ran throughout the docks. Ellie was right next to me. Her eyes were puffy from crying. "You're alive!" She hugged me tightly. Tears ran down onto my shirt. "Of course I'm alive… I'd never leave you." I looked down at where the bullet struck me. "You're damn lucky." Jessica emerged from the crowd. She had gloves, and a pair of tweezers. "Now shut up and stay still." I obeyed, waiting for the pain to begin. I bit my lip until it bled. Let me tell you, biting your lip hurts a lot more than the books make it sound. "All done." Jessica's gloves were stained with blood, but a small piece of metal was in her tweezers. "Want a souvenir?"

We soon figured out that all the contestants were pirates all sent by a 'bandit king'. All the real contestants were found unclothed, gagged, and blindfolded in a room at the inn. King must've been surprised. Gail brought me back here as fast as she could. She said I kept moaning something like 'go away' or 'not now'. I wasn't puzzled. Not after my encounter with the specter. I get nightmares from it even now.

On a brighter note, we won the first part of the competition by default and attempted manslaughter. The next part of the competition would take place tomorrow because of all the events that took place that day. That one day left us to create new designs. 'Us' was Gail and I. Since bandits were coming after us (and our submarine apparently after a few 'questions') we put second plates on the sub to protect us from any bullets, kraken, or even Will. Unfortunately, Gail put her smelting work on ME. Yeah, that's right. She made a gun-proof shield for me to wear. I called my self the 'Gun Knight' which got a few chuckles.

Day two: Bower Lake

I woke up again. It was the same as yesterday. I looked at the wooden ceiling, clutching my bullet wound and wondered what could've happened if the shot hit my heart. Would Ellie have a foster parent? Would everyone go crazy? No. everyone would only care at the moment, but soon forget me. I'm only one person of the millions in Albion. Life would go on. I picked up my armor and my weapons before I headed to the dock. "Ellie, it's time to go!"

"I'm downstairs!" She usually woke up before me, waking me up instead of the other way around. I saw her on the table with a fancy dress on. Her bright hair was pulled up in a ponytail. "You're going to go watch fishing with villagers. This isn't the Crucible with the king."

"So what? You're looking like an Old Kingdom knight!" I shrugged and clanked my way out the door. Did I mention that there was always a loud 'clank' whenever I stepped? Yeah.

Despite my awkward appearance, I still was able to talk to a few people at the docks. Ellie ran to the submarine. She said something about a Gate, but didn't mention anything else. Gail made a thumbs up sign to me as soon as I was in her sights. "So, when you get shot at you won't feel a thing."

"Other than mind numbing humility?"

"Better humiliated than dead." I chuckled heartily. I walked towards the dock, hoping I wouldn't crash through it. As soon as we entered the submarine, a Hero from the guild explained what to do. "We made a Cullis Gate here for this tournament. I'll send you to Bower Lake."

Cullis Gates have been re-established over the years thanks to the Hero's Guild, so transporting the vessels was a piece of cake. All we had to do was make sure we all were on the circle when we teleported. Our surroundings were cut out and we were surrounded by a white light slowly crawling on our bodies.

Our new surrounding was a bright landscape filled with water and the green shoreline. Spectators already were gathered on the shore. Hooded acolytes were at the Guild (now built on where it once proudly stood) hooting, hollering and cheering as our strange figures emerged. Gail pulled us to the shore. "Ellie, you did come here to make people stare, right?" My little sister giggled happily and jumped out of the hatch. I looked to see when she was off and closed the hatch. "You're so great with kids." I said to Gail. "You obviously don't like too many of them. The only kid you really like is Mark and Ellie." I sighed deeply at her truthful words. "Hey look, there's Jessica, ready to pull the trigger." Jessica was in the middle of the high bridge separating the shore from the Guild. She mouthed 'Begin!' and we heard a pistol shot. It was another day to fish.

Did we come up with a new routine? No. Did we use our speed to zoom around the Guild and amaze bystanders? No. We just beat the other teams into the dust. We unloaded our nets on the shoreline many times. Soon there were so much fish, people started to throw a few back in. "Why are they throwing our catch into the lake?" Gail angrily asked.

"I think we're taking too many from the lake." I responded. "Remember, we aren't fishing for food like we did on Knothole Island. We're fishing for fun. I'm pretty sure they're getting the numbers for our catches." She nodded slowly, piecing my explanation. The other boats were doing an ok job. They got a lot of fish, but just not as much as we got. This was the small routine for a while, until our easy day didn't turn out so well.

Bandits are not really the best thing to ever happen to the world. They lie, steal, kill, and of course almost killed me. They just didn't get the message that we weren't average kids. Anyways, what happened was that an iron ship emerged from the Cullis Gate that bore spikes all over the sides, and had guns mounted on each side. "They're back?!" I didn't believe it. "We need to make sure they don't hurt anyone." As I said that, the Guild started firing Will spells at them. Blades, fireballs, lightning, and even a few summoning spells were made. It wasn't quite enough. They responded with bullets, bullets, oh and did I mention a small ball they threw that exploded?

The first ship that went down was the rickety impression of the duck. Oh, I forgot to mention that they brought up every single ship that sunk since they had a free day. An explosion was heard and I gripped my helmet. "How can we take that thing out?"

"We can't do anything. Not unless we can board it." I had an idea. "Give me the wheel, I know what to do." Gail handed the controls to me the second time in two days and I hoped that I wouldn't be half dead by the end of the day. I drove near the Guild. "Hey! Bring in some of your best Will users and some good Heroes! We can get you on the ship!" Six heroes bundled into the submarine. "What's the plan?" Gail asked us. "We go on the ship and shoot everyone on sight." Gail raised an eyebrow. "I'm dropping you off at the shore. You'll be safer." I turned my head away from her. "Me? You'll get hurt way more than me!"

"Listen, you have more to look forward in life than I do." She could've said something, but by then the hatch was open and we literally threw her on the grass. "You better come back in one piece!" She yelled as we sealed the hatch.

"I'll watch the sub while you take them out. You get all the glory, all the fame and I stay in here." They nodded and had a strange look. Jealousy? Hate? Was it confusion of taking orders from a 13 year old? I didn't have much time to ponder this because we already arrived. I emerged from the depths of the Lake and fired a net onto the bandit's deck. "Go! Open the hatch, and climb the net." A sharp harpooned end of the net was stuck in the metal of the ship, making a ladder. They obeyed and scurried up the net.

I heard screams of pain, bullets fly through the air, and a body even fell on the submarine. I kept my eyes on the hatch and gripped my rifle tightly. Soon everything was silent, so I relaxed. I brought myself to the scope to take a look when a bullet struck me from behind. I turned around, a dent poking into my back and I saw a bandit with a pistol aimed right at me. He tossed the pistol and jumped on me. We wrestled around and punched each other for a few minutes. However, I got him in an iron grip and started to deliver deadly fists. I grabbed my swords and latched them onto my back. I brought out the rifle and aimed it at his face. "Who are you working for?"

"The b-bandit king." He stuttered. "Why are you after me?"

"He said you're too dangerous to live." I tilted my head to one side. "No. It's you who's too dangerous." I pulled the trigger and blood splattered all over the dashboard. I let go of the body which hit a lever.

I fell down onto the floor of the sub that was headed for shore. The dead body must've hit the high speed lever. I brought myself to the driver's area when an impact sent me flying. There were no screams. There wasn't any blood. There was just a great pain in my heart, knowing this time I would die for sure.


	11. Why?

**I know, I know. Not much of an 11****th**** chapter, eh? Well SUCK IT UP!**

**Also, I'm using videogame physics here so please don't say something like "Well that couldn't happen because ____" because IT'S A FAN FICTION! DEAL WITH IT!**

Chapter 11: Why?

I was in the air for eight days. The impact sent me flying so high, that my armor stripped off like parchment. At some times, it was hard to breathe. I didn't know who I was, where I was, what I did, and most of every single memory other than the basic necessities. Amnesia, I believe. And while I was in the air I had some types of images flickering through my head. Here are some of them.

The shadowy figure returns and hisses "You are not guarded… However, you are safe."

I am in a house located in a lush landscape. Many other houses surround me, and green grasses, flowers, and gates decorate the background. When I look at the town center though, the beautiful land is destroyed and is replaced with a marsh, filled with demonic figures and a presence of deep sorrow.

Now I'm in a fortress, guarded with many knights. Masculine figures tower above peasants but despite the crowdedness, in the center a girl looks up at me. The only thing that was wrong with her is that where her eyes were supposed to be, were two fleshy sockets staring down on me.

My arm is cut off. My leg is hurt badly. I am dressed in chainmail, fighting off many bandits armed with strange weapons that create small explosions when they pull a small lever. Soon one lifts it to my head and the scene turned black.

I'm at a dark castle located dangerously on a huge rock. The only connection to it and land is a large bridge. Golden idols decorate the scene. When I venture inside, a black winged figure stares at me with large eyes filled with hate. It says "Measly worshippers. Archons cannot be meddled with. We will destroy you if you do so." He leaves his sword and vanishes in a cloud leaving a dark feeling of despair.

Everything is black. A group of people stare at me. A white haired girl, a light-brown skinned girl, a man with a decapitated leg, a woman whose face is completely white, a dog that sits patiently, and the largest of them all is a boy who is of average height. He has dark brown hair, and wears bluish clothing. Soon his features are removed. His eyes, his hair, his mouth, nose and ears vanish. Then his body begins to disappear. After that the group of people starts to move farther away, but their feet aren't moving. I try to run towards them, but iron claws are holding me down, and thrown me up like a toy. The crowd is gone. One by one, they leave. The last one is the white haired girl. I reach out my hand but she walks into a deep fog. I've had this dream/hallucination every two days. Why?


	12. Black Pain

**I know the chapter sounds like a death metal band. I also know that the chapter is a little short. It is short because the main character's eyes are SWOLLEN SHUT!**

Chapter 12: Black Pain

I approached a big tree on the side of a hill with great speed. I was about to have a rough fall. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.

Pain. That was what I was thinking of. Blood ran from my ears, eyes, and even my nose. My legs crunched loudly with my arms and I didn't even believe I survived. I crawled around to no avail. I shut my eyes, accepting the warm darkness that surrounded me.

Soft hands were feeling my body. My destroyed face especially. When they touched my legs, I shivered in excruciating pain. That was one word I kept thinking of. Pain. "Don't touch him. He needs help." A rough deep voice broke the thick silence. "Go get someone. Maybe they'll help him. Avo knows I can't find my way around here." A higher, feminine voice responded. I tried to open my eyes, but soon realized they were swollen shut. A raspy voice escaped me. "Where…am I?"

"You're at Bower Lake."

"Where's that?"

"You're a nutter, aren't you?"

"I'm not… crazy." My lungs felt like they were on fire. I twitched my hands but only got an unsatisfactory groan of broken muscles and bone. "You were attacked by bandits then?"

"I can't remember. Who am I?" She grew silent. Once again soft hands felt my face. "Poor thing. You look like a hurricane hit you." I heard heavy footsteps approach us. "Oh looky here. A darkness filled woman and her new pet."

"Shut up Darrell before I kick your ass." Her pity filled voice was now replaced with rage. "Make me." I don't know how she did it but there were numerous thuds and Darrell's voice. "You bitch! You'll pay!" He must've been a complete coward.

More footsteps approached. "Here he is, right where we found 'im."

"Thank you. We will take him back and heal him."

"Well boy, I hope we meet again someday. Until then, good bye." The rough man patted my head and I replied with a groan. "I hope we meet again when your memory returns." The girl walked away, judging by her light footsteps.

The men carried me on a wooden board for several minutes until we arrived… somewhere. I was placed on a soft surface. 'Bed' my brain recognized. "So boy, you have no memory whatsoever."

"No sir."

"Do you know what occurred that put you into this state?"

"I believe it was bandits."

"Good. Now, is your heart filled with rage and vengeance?"

"Yes."

"Good. We'll see if you can learn how to fight." The man walked away. My eyes were still swollen shut. I tried my best to ignore the pain and try to sleep.

It took me five days to regain my sight. It took thrice time to limp around. They said "Your eyes must've had a terrible beating. You're body is in terrible shape. It's a miracle you're walking, let alone alive." I nodded, opening my eyes for the first time for quite a while. Everything was blurry. I looked at the man helping me. He was dressed in tan robes, his hair fashioned in a ponytail. His hair was black, but his eyes seemed to barely crack open. A pistol was at his hip, itching to be used and a katana was at his back. "I'm Christopher." He brought his hand out. My wobbly hand shook his. "Well… I'm nameless, so where am I?" Christopher paused, giving me a look as if it said 'Are you kidding?' but he replied differently. "You're at the Hero's Guild. Ever heard of it?"

"No."

"Ever heard of Bowerstone?"

"No."

"Have you heard of Jack of Blades?" My mind clicked. I clutched my head in agony. "Are you alright?"

"Just… a headache…" He looked at me worriedly. "I'm guess you're still reacting to the incident. I'm going to give you heavy doses of herbs and medicines, so you'll be out of it for a while."

"Describe 'out of it'."

"You will lose consciousness several times over a period of ten to fifteen days. You'll basically be asleep and wake up once every day to eat, bathe, and sleep." I surrendered the thought of an easy recovery. 'Damn bandits.' I thought to myself.

First day:

The food here isn't bad at all. Many people complain about the food, but I don't really care. Is it because I have no memory of what food tastes like? Or do I just have low standards for food? I had no idea. After eating, I limped painfully back to my bed. Bathing could wait for at least one day.

Second day:

More food, except I took a bath this time. Maids poured extremely hot water into a tub, and I sat in it. They looked confused when my clothes were still on as I entered the tub.

Filthy whores.

Third day:

I requested to bathe on my own. Didn't stop the maids to try to get a peek, so I threw hot water at them whenever I heard the door creek. Eating was pretty cliché now. Bread, stew, milk, and a little bit of meat was what I got. They were larger than the other meals around me. "It's because you eat only once a day." Christopher told me. The bed was a sanctuary.

Fourth day:

Nothing new, I had a strange dream though. Something about falling.

The fourth day happened for at least the rest of the time. Except for the last day, that is.

Fifteenth day:  
A dark mood surrounded the Guild today. Everyone had their hoods down and dyed their robes black. I asked several members but they gave me the same answer. "A young one died about a month ago. We preserved his body until we were sure it was his. Now we're going to bury it." Christopher added "You look fine, so put on some black clothes and pay your respects." I obeyed, grabbing some dark robes from a closet. "Come with me. I followed like a dog.

We soon arrived at our destination which was a small shore where a gaping hole in a cliff was shown. I failed to shrug off the feeling of deep sorrow. I looked at a gathered crowd that was centered on a coffin. "-and so the young soul lost here not be forgotten, and his sacrifice to save a many lives. Amen."

"Amen." A chorus of voices rose. Four people pushed the coffin onto the lake. "May the coffin never sink, never die, and never crack." I gave a confused look to Chris. "They enchanted the coffin so it wouldn't ever leak or sink. It'll float around thanks to the currents." I nodded. I looked at the few, more eccentric people that were crying the most. A lady's white makeup was ruined. A dog whimpered. A man with a decapitated leg frowned deeply and looked away from the lake, as if it was too much. A light brown skinned girl had tears running down her cheek, hugging a tall man that was probably her father. But the person who interested me the most was a small girl with white hair.

I looked at her, trying to remember something. When I thought I had her name on the tip of my tongue, I had another killer headache. "Are you alright?" Christopher whispered. "I… I need rest." I fumbled my steps to my quarters. I sat in the bed, and almost wept for the poor boy that was killed. I thought out loud. "Is it better to never know what you lost or is it better to respect the memories of them?" I pondered this until I fell into a deep sleep.

"Wake up. The Guild master needs to see you." I rubbed my eyes sleepily. "Fine." I took an apprentice robe and followed the monk. "It seems you want revenge for what the bandits did."

"Yes."

"You are angry at them? They must've had reasons, right?"

"If they had a reason, I either must've been really unlucky or a complete jackass." I brought up my hood, shuffling around twists and turns of the hallways. I passed the strange funeral troupe. "I still can't believe he's dead…" The tanned girl said. She wiped off more tears. "At least he's in a better place now."

"I could've done something. I should've checked the mechanisms… This is my fault." The makeup woman patted her back, whispering words of encouragement. I left them as they wept in silence.

"Ah, the new boy is here." The Guild master was sitting down on a chair. He was tall, had blue lines on him, and had plenty of muscles to show off. He had a bard's beard and a hairstyle fashioned of shoulder length hair that was blonde. His skin was very pale. "You have recovered nicely?"

"Yes sir."

"Now, I noticed you had these weapons on you." He brought up a strange rifle, and two swords. One dark and evil, and one white. "You have the weapons of a hero."

"I am no hero."

"You will be trained to be one." He stated as if I didn't have a choice. "You do want revenge, right?" I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. "Yes sir."

"You'll start tomorrow." He waved his hand, and put his feet on a desk. "You can keep these weapons that we found on you. They look strange, so it'd be wise to look them up in our library. It's good to know your weapon." He threw the weapons at me and I caught them with ease. "You are going to be a hero. No normal human could survive that beating, let alone walk two weeks later. Go get some rest." He shooed me out of the room.


	13. I hate School

**Most of the structures, buildings, and landmarks are basically the Hero's Guild in the first Fable except for a few new things. Also, about the spells, it pisses me off that in Fable 2 there are at least half of the skills, monsters, and game time compared to the first Fable! Remember Bargate Prison? I do more than anything, because it was a pain in the ass to do! Remember the onslaught of side quests? Remember all the time it took to master ONE spell? Also I distinctly remember a main antagonist that you see frequently and can actually fight… JACK OF BLADES! I mean, come ON! Lucien is the worst antagonist ever! Well, sorry for droning on about the disappointments of Fable II, but here is chapter 13!**

Chapter 13: I hate school

I had a great sleep, but an awful wake up call. "Wake up apprentices!" Christopher banged a pot in my ear. "It's too early."

"You're an apprentice now, so get up and I'll be your guide." He squinted his eyes even tighter. "Get up." I didn't want to get him angry, so I got up and hurried to put on some robes. "Follow me to breakfast." He strode off, leaving me to catch up. I limped as fast as I could, but barely kept his fast pace. We walked down a stairway to the mess hall. "When the first Guild was destroyed, some ruins remained. We've tried our absolute best to replicate the former Guild." Chris explained. "The only real part left of the guild is the Chamber of Fate and you have to go through about a mile of tunnels to get there." I nodded whenever he passed out random facts like on how the Guild master was trying to create a way to make a Demon Door to earn a high ranking of a Hero. It is important because," I stopped paying attention. I was busy eating some decent food. Soup, bread, sandwiches, and even a chicken leg! "Do you get this food every day?"

"Yes but-"

"AWESOME!" I gulped down all my food. He sighed. "Let's go see if your weapons are as special as you are."

We walked to a large room, filled with books and scrolls. Two large tables were surrounded by chairs. "This is the Archives. Every quest, legend, and piece of history is listed here." His hands rose up. Christopher scurried up a ladder and threw down a large book. "That's the weapons lore book." I had to use both my arms to pick it up. As soon as I set it onto a table, Christopher came down. "Now, let's see these weapons." He examined the white blade. He studied the book for a few minutes. "This is… unknown to the book." I raised my eyebrow. "I thought you said that all the weapons were listed here?"

"They are, it's probably just a blade someone forged in a remote town or something." He picked up the black blade. "The only sword that this one could be is the Maelstrom, but we have no idea where that sword is." He shook his head. I snatched the black blade and took the white one. "Wait… one light and one dark. Let's see the book again." He studied the book a few more minutes and left me to walk around the Archives. I ran my finger among tons of books that decorated the shelves like a thick blanket. It wasn't long though, until I heard his voice again.

"Hey! Get over here, this is really important!" he yelled. I was at his side and he pointed his forefinger at a grey sword that was richly illustrated. "These two swords… they're actually Twinblade's!"

"Who the hell is that?"

"Was. Twinblade was a bandit king. He lived in the time of Jack slayer. He didn't have arms, but instead he had blades. Before he was a bandit king he was a hero. Apparently he helped Jack slayer's sister, Theresa."

"So you're saying…"

"Yes. You are carrying the arms of a bandit king." I shuddered at the thought. "Ironic." I muttered. I strapped the sword(s) onto my back. "Now this rifle… it's very weird. There are no records of even sighting this weapon." I shrugged. "Can we start training now?"

"Fine, follow me."

Many twists and turns were made for us to wind up in a large setting outside. "You see that ring over there?" he pointed to a crudely shaped circle, surrounded by a picket fence. "That's where you'll start training with swords."

"Will it be hard?"

"That's not my place to judge." Chris shrugged. "Just see if you can fight a dummy." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Fine." I hopped over the fence and started swinging at the lifeless doll.

An hour later Chris came back to examine my work. "How is the dummy coming along?"  
"I don't know…" I pointed at the dummy. I didn't notice during all the swinging, but now that I checked the target, it was ripped to shreds. "Um… you haven't used a sword before, right?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. I have amnesia, remember?" He sighed. "I guess we need to get you started on a different topic. How about…Target practice?" we were at the shooting range. I was freaked out. "At least you're talking again. You haven't said a word for fifteen minutes!" he gave me a stink eye "Shooting targets aren't all that easy. Sometimes even the slightest bit of wind can make your life saving bullet into a death machine." He took my rifle. "Where do you put in the bullets?" he kept examining the gun for a while. He clicked a small switch soon and a block fell off of it. "These are strange bullets. For one, they're sharp. It seems they're meant for attacking a building."

"Well, if they're that strange you won't be able to make bullets for my gun?"

"Oh, we'll be able to. We'll just have to examine one of them." He took out one of the bullets and put the block back where it belonged, a snap heard in the gun. "Can I shoot it before you demolish it?" I impatiently and angrily asked. "Fine." He shoved the gun into my chest. I brought up the gun and started to shoot.

"How the hell do you have that much experience with weapons when you have amnesia?" Chris yelled, a hint of jealousy in his voice. I shrugged. "I guess I was a good shooter before." He shook off the thoughts of envy. "OK, let's go take you to the Will range." We started to walk past the picket circle, and arrived at the Will range which happened to be a small island that had a circle of dummies on it with a huge circle in the middle of their chests. A monk with glowing blue lines greeted me. "Welcome young student. I am Raven." He took off his hood to reveal a pale face with grey hair. His face had many scars on them that were blocked off by the many blue lines on his body. "Christopher has done well to teach you the basics of weaponry but you will have to train long and hard to achieve control over the Will powers." I nodded, but not a 'whatever' nod. A real nod. Anyways, he kept on explaining about Will. "Will is magic. It is nature, life, death, and a many other great things. Observe." He extended his left hand and lightning flew from his hand to the target, which was fried instantly. "You may be confused about how I did that. Let me tell you a little history lesson first.

"Long ago, when the first guild was destroyed, all the surviving heroes vanished from Albion, never to help its citizens for a long time. However, when The Hero chose Sacrifice, he brought back all the men that died in the making of the Spire. However, what he did not know is that he also revived all the heroes hiding inside the first spire. He never specified which Spire, so both of the Spire's occupants were spared. The Archon that made the first wish wasn't spared because he was at the center of the Spire, and the loophole was created. The surviving heroes (which were about 300) decided to recreate the Guild. That is how this guild was created (also with the help of The Hero and the raw veins of Hero blood). All the surviving heroes can be found here today. I am one of them. I am a Will master. You've heard of Garth? Well, he may be the Hero of Will, but he only has a fraction of the many spells I possess. He had only eight spells at his disposal. I have at least eighteen!" He ranted on and on about the flaws of common conception of Will and how he was going to teach me how to use it.

"You need to know which spells surround you, heal you, strengthen you, and even hurt you. We can't just let you handle the keys of destruction yet. Now, the way to fire lightning is when I charge up the molecules in my hand…" We had countless lessons like this. I learned how to prepare the spell, how to cast it repeatedly, how to make it surround me, how to even use it to fry a little bit of meat! It took me at least a month of training to have a 'decent' sized lightning bolt. When I say decent, I mean it can make dummies fall down. When I showed Raven this he laughed heartily. "Good job. You've mastered the basics of how to shoot lightning. Now we move onto maintaining the bolt, and surrounding yourself with it." I moaned in protest as another two weeks flew by, my studies filled with mentally impossible tasks. It's not all that easy to shoot lightning out of your hand!

All in all, it took me at least two months to master the shock spell. Raven shook my hand when I made the dummy fry with a sizzle. "Believe it or not, you are a fast learner." I gave him a doubtful look. "Now, we need a new spell to study. You choose the powers, and I will help you learn it." As he said that, walking away from the small training island, I looked at my hands. They were grubby, covered with dirt and a pair of gloves. I was thinking "Did I really do that?"

The next few spells I learned were Enflame, Fireball, Divine Might, Unholy Might, Vortex, and Blades. It took me three months for Enflame, one month for Fireball, and five months for Divine Might and four for Unholy Might. It took me eight months to master Vortex. The last spell I learned was Blades. All in all, it took me twenty three months to learn those spells. During that time, Raven taught me how to meditate. Here's how I learned:

"Nameless, to truly meditate you need to block out all the sounds of Earth. You must be calm, and think of absolutely nothing. If you maintain that, you can slow down your heart beat. You can also hide your blue lines." We were sitting on two stumps in Brightwood Forest. Ruins surrounded us on all sides. I looked at the mysterious blue lines that decorated my body that was strengthened by the year at the Guild. "Why do Will lines show, Master Raven?"  
"Will lines are like a title. They are yours and no one else's. No two patterns are the same. They tell your life. They tell when you discovered life, and embraced the power of Will. It also sometimes shows you how you will die." He stabbed his finger into my chest. "They are created by your soul. The Lines were always there. They only show due to your exposure to magic." He explained to me. "So, Nameless, try to meditate. Have fun." He took a book out of his robes, sat down and started to read. That was the day I began to meditate… or at least try to. "To learn how to use Will, you need to learn to become in touch with yourself." Raven talked as he read his book. I closed my eyes tightly. I tried not to think. My failed attempts were met with a smack from Raven's hand. By the time I mastered it, I was covered in bruises.

Raven and I were at the small island. "You will learn Blades today." Blades was a really tough spell to learn. You had to summon swords out of nothing and then send them out. "To master this spell you must have great patience. The first step is shaping the sword. Use your Will powers to shape it." I concentrated on making a sword, but I made a round shape instead. "Ok… You're doing well for a beginner. Close your eyes and shape it." I obeyed immediately and closed my eyes. I imagined running my fingers on Twinblade's swords and sculpted freely. "Are you sure that is your shape?"

"Yes Raven." I opened my eyes to see a freakish ball bouncing around. "Damn it!"

It took be most of the time to learn how to shape the damned thing. "OK, shape the sword." I thought of the sword. "Is that your shape?"

"You've asked me that every time we test this spell. Yes!"

"Very well." I opened my eyes to reveal a dark ominous blade in front of my face. "Why is it black? Aren't they supposed to be a different color?"

"I think it's because your past is associated with a dark blade. That, or it is your future." I pondered about it, but shook off the thought. "Now, fire it at the tree." He pointed at a tree close by. I fired the sword at it, and it sunk in with a pleasant sound. "Good Nameless! Now can you create two at once?" I moaned as the pain of education came once more.

During all that time, I also trained with Christopher. He said I had a good shot, but not the best. "You can't always rely on magic. The true weapons of Heroes are made of steel." He brought a fist up and clenched it strongly. I always sighed when he made some pointless point (no pun intended). Every day I trained with guns of every kind, every weapon of steel, and with Will power. If you have all of those put together, you have a Guild of hell!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Raven and I were sitting on two stumps in the middle of Brightwood once again. I was meditating and he was reading another book. "What book do you read every single day? You should've finished it by now." I always wondered that. "Well, it's a very long book." He lifted it up, but it looked small. "That's a lie. You know that book is short. Can't you read?"

"Yes!" he was very angry at me. "Never mind." He turned away and folded his arms. I crept over and snatched the book from him. "HEY!" he shouted. I laughed and chuckled as I ran off, trying to read the contents of the book. It wasn't big, its text was very small that covered the entire page. I kept running, hearing the twigs and branches snapping behind me. "Get back here!" he snarled. I ran and ran until I came to a large clearing. I listened to the forest… nothing. Something was wrong. In the forest you should hear thousands of sounds, but I only heard an eerie silence. Slowly, I drew my black sword and laid the book onto the ground. Bushes started to shake and I jumped towards it, revealing a small rabbit. I sighed deeply. "Bugger." I walked away from the bush, chuckling. A twig snapped. I turned but barely deflected the broadsword that was aimed for my head. "Damn it." I swiftly kicked the bandit's face, knocking out several of his teeth. He flailed wildly, cursing loudly. I yelled loudly. "Raven!" another sword appeared out of mid air. "Die already!" I slashed the bandit's head clean off. Another one jumped at me and was met with a Fireball to the face. "I'm sick of this." I prepared a Vortex which started to wave the trees around, making cracks among the trunks. "Crap." I awed at the vastness of the bandits. There were about fifty in all (not counting the three at my feet.) and were flying around as the tornado tossed them about, breaking bones, trees, and wrecking havoc. "You bastard!" a particular bandit shouted. He was very tall and wore a long black cloak that seemed to consume the rest of his body. "You killed too many of my friends already." I looked upon the bloody masses around the trees. He saw a violent look on me, so he started to run and more bandits dropped from the trees.

"Go Chief!" voices rang out. They sharpened their swords on me, but I easily deflected most of them and then responded with a quick stab. Five of them were on me at once, so I had to draw my white sword to counter the blows that were aggressively given to me. After a few failed attempts, half of their men lay on the forest floor and had small orbs dribbling from them. Some were yellow, blue, red, and green. They inched back, but broke into a sprint. I started to go after the bandits.

It was fairly easy to track them, they left a great many heavy footprints. I walked across large ruins. Bridges spanned wide across the broken stone fortresses that amassed the forest. Of course I left an easy trail to find, for Raven would've been greatly upset. I walked past the bridge, and found a long slope that led down into a small camp. It was just a huge hole in the ground with a ramp. Many bandits were there, mourning for their friends. Friends… that's when it hit me. I slowly looked upon my hands that were stained with blood. My blades were coated in it, and the orbs from the corpses followed me, and whenever they touched me, odd memories popped up. I hated them, and kept running from them whenever they came near. I felt like crying.

I wiped off the tears, and decided that it would be over with soon. The bandits also had slaves. Only a couple and they were strange. They were a girl that looked my age, and a tall man with dark brown skin. They were stuck in cages in the middle of the camp, near a large tent. The familiar black figure came out of it, and stood in front of the captives. He must've been having a horrible conversation, because a look of disgust and embarrassment came onto his face. He spun around soon and headed for his tent. That bandit camp was quiet then. Night came over the land and that was when I decided that now was the time to strike.

Preparations were simple enough. I cut about three fourths of a trunk off and had a ridiculous amount of rope, but it worked. I made these preparations as the man was talking to the prisoners, which were quite a good distraction. I pulled slowly on the ropes. The tree started to groan with pain. I smiled as it fell down on the opposite end of the hole as I. "Get the Chief!"

"Intruder!" I heard the shouts among the men. They ran to the tree, looking puzzled. After I was satisfied with results, I jumped down to greet any bandit with steel and Will, which actually happened twice, but they're dead now. It seemed I didn't think about killing until the battle was over, but the battle wasn't over quite yet. Bandits began to flood the camp as I approached the large tent. The tall man came, but unexpectedly opened the cage and pressed a knife to the girl's neck. "Get on the ground now, or she dies." The girl didn't fuss or scream. She just mouthed the words 'Do it'. I was confused, for no one doesn't fear death. "You see these blades?" I questioned him. "Do you know who they belong to?" he still pressed the knife. "Twinblade." He stopped for a moment, which was all I needed. I released a small Vortex that sent him sprawling and cursing. The girl flew into the air and fell on the ground. She was out cold. "You little…" the tall man began. Before he could finish, I released another tornado. The bandits surrounded me, and struck all at once. They all met the same fate, which was a deep pit that dragged them into the Underworld. The tents disappeared, which left the black cloaked bandit all by himself.

"Spare me!" he pleaded. I looked at the orbs slowly drifting to the surface of the ground. "No!" a yell shook the valley. Raven approached from behind me, and knocked me on the head. "What the hell happened here?" he roared. "You took my book!" he snatched my swords. The bandit had a sign of great relief, but soon met Raven's fist. "Why are there so many experience orbs here?" I tilted my head in confusion. "Uh… they came out of the corpses and keep following me around! Why do they keep giving me memories?!" I yelled. "Do you know what his name is?" I pointed at the unconscious bandit. "I know his name, his father's name, and every single man that I just killed, and I've never even met these people!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Why?!"

"Well… a Hero's greatest strength is also his curse. In every story of legend, Hero's get their strength from an unknown source. Well, the source is obviously from the men, women, and creatures he or she killed. By gaining all of their memories, you have gained more knowledge and strength." He punched my arm. "That would normally have hurt, right? Well, by gaining all their memories, you know how to take hits, beatings, and suffering. It is greatly unnatural for someone your age to be exposed to these many orbs."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. You just killed an army of bandits, saved Albion trouble, and even stopped them from making slaves out of its citizens. This should've been a quest that Heroes gain glory from. You can probably get your guild seal soon and complete official quests!" I thought about it. I would be respected. "I also hear they're allowing Heroes to carry all of their weapons now!" I looked forward to the day of graduation. Unfortunately, my visions of glory were cut short when I had a little meeting of my face and the ground.

"Wow… he massacred all the bandits?" a deep voice called.

"It wasn't his fault. He was using the black blade over the white one…" Raven spoke.

"I don't care if he lost control! He saved our lives!" a very familiar voice rang. Soft hands touched my eyes, and I slowly opened them. "He awakes!" I jump up and boy, do I feel embarrassed. "Uh… sorry." I stammered, scratching my head. "It's OK!" a young girl wore a long white robe with red trims. A hood lay on her back, and her long auburn hair was tied back in a long ponytail. She had brilliant green eyes but seemed to be staring intensely on something. "Why were you touching my face?" she blushed. "I'm blind…" I almost slapped myself. "It's OK though, most people don't know. I only recently lost my sight. Damn those clothing dyes."

"I wish I could tell you my name, but I have amnesia."

"No way! We're the people who found you!" she cheered. I stared in disbelief. "You're kidding me… right?"

"No. We aren't young bandit slayer." The quiet man finally came into the conversation. "I am James. We've come in search of new housings because the Temple of Shadows attacked Oakfield recently, and we don't feel like fighting off shadows."

"We have room at the Guild." Raven offered. "You look like a man who is used to hard work." My teacher added. "We could give you a well paying job. We have plenty of spaces, so you can choose whichever one you prefer." James pondered on it. "Why not?" he shrugged. "What about that bandit?"

"Let's take Darrell with us, shall we? I'm sure your Guild Master would LOVE to ask some questions." Taking James' advice, Raven quickly tied him up. "Lead the way, mages."

Even though we lead the way, it seemed that the girl was a pretty good fighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Jackie." She smiled at me. Darrell started coughing the words "FLIRTS!" which resulted in a swift kick from me. A few times we ran into about three Hobbes. Now, when I said Jackie was a good fighter, I meant she killed a Hobbe. One brushed her foot and she broke its neck by stomping on it repeatedly. "I… hate… Hobbes…" she blushed and quickly turned her head away. "Remind me not to make her angry, will you?" Raven tried his best to hold in his chuckle, but to no avail. That got a quick thump from James. "Why'd you do that?!" My mentor angrily shook his fist. "I felt like it." James grinned.

When we finally arrived, it was the late afternoon and we were greeted by an entourage of apprentices. We stood in the middle of the bridge when they all came pouring out like ants. "It's about time you showed up!" Christopher walked up to me, patting me on the back. "So, what took you so long?"

"I'll tell you later." I brushed off his hand and accompanied Raven to the Guild Master's office.

"So… Raven. What the hell took you?!"

"A large amount of bandits were stationed in Brightwood forest. My apprentice," he pointed at me, "killed them all. We actually brought back a prisoner." Raven yanked on the rope, almost knocking Darrell on the ground. "Damn it! What the hell's your problem?!"

"Shut up." The Guild Master kicked him in the gut. "Who is the Bandit King?"

"You should know him!" Another kick was delivered. "Who? Is? It?" he said slower. "Bah, you'll never know." This time he wound up the kick, sending Darrell halfway across the room. "I won't tell you!" I didn't want to hear to any more violent interrogations, so I stepped forth and made a small Fireball in my hand. "OK! OK! The Bandit King isn't actually one person! It's our lead council which basically controls all operations in, out, and around Albion. The Bandit King is now going to have its first meeting in five decades. They're going to be introducing some new… 'interesting' members to our ranks. They'll all be meeting in the Cow & Corset in two weeks." He chuckled. "You won't stand a chance!" Raven took a pistol mounted on the wall and hit the back of his head with the butte of it. "So… we need to send someone in to deal with this… Bandit King. Nameless, you obviously did very well on assaulting the bandit camp. For that deed, I'm promoting you to a Hero! You'll be the youngest Hero ever, and also you'll still be able to stay here until you have enough money to pay for a house!" The Guild Master grabbed my shoulders tightly. "You are going to be a great influence on Albion. I'll get the graduation ceremony ready." He grinned toothily and shooed us out of his office, still leaving Darrell inside, probably still going to receive abuse.

When I left the office, I went to my room to relax only to find Christopher. I smiled and said "I'm going to graduate."

"YOU'RE GRADUATING?!" Chris yelled. "You're kidding, right? I still have to wait TWO YEARS to graduate!" his voice was thick with admiration and jealousy. "Don't worry, I'm staying anyways. It's not like you get a hundred thousand gold pieces for graduating." I chuckled. "I hope you stay here. It'll be too boring." His squinted eyes almost opened as he pleaded, but he made them clamp tighter. "However, since I am a Hero now, I guess I'll be taking a few quests. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find somewhere to settle down if I get sick of life on the road."

"Maybe… anyways, who was that girl?"

"She was going to be sold as a slave. She's blind too, so fate must've been fairly cruel." He nodded. "Anyways, when is the celebration?"

"I don't know… I'm just going to hang around here to see if there's anything I can do."

"That sounds cool. I'm going to have to go practice my skills some more." He sighed as he rose up and left the room. Before he left, he said over his shoulder, "I'm very glad you're graduating." and then closed the door, separating me even further from my best friend.


	15. Siege

**Chapter 15: The Siege**

I sat upon a rock near the horrible experiment the Master made. "You little bugger! You ain't got no Skill!" I furrowed my brow. "At least I can do this." I walked over to the other side of the small peninsula separating us from the water and the abomination. "Well, shoot me!"

"Why?"  
"I… have problems."

"You bet your ass you do." I shrugged and walked away from it. "SHOOT ME DAMN YOU!"

"No." I still walked away from it, getting quite a few more nasty comments from it. Slowly I walked to the Guild Master's study. "Master?"

"Yes, come in here." I walked inside the large room. "What is it?"

"I can't stand that 'experiment'! It's driving me crazy!"

"It's alright, I'm almost done making the plans for the first Deman Door."

"Deman?"

"Yes, it's like the former Demon doors, but it requires less power and can be remade over and over again for Hero apprentices to prove themselves. You can go destroy that failed experiment." He shooed me away as he always does, and I left him.

"Shoot me!"

"Ok then…" I fired a round in between its eyes and it exploded, leaving a huge pile of dust on the ground. The leather strap snapped onto my gun, and I walked away to see where Jackie was. She settled in just yesterday, and she seemed to enjoy it when I saw her. She was at the front gate of the guild, sitting on the sides of the bridge that separated us from the green meadows that surrounded the Bower Lake. "Hello?" she said as I approached. "It's me."

"Hey, you." She grinned. "How's it going? Do you like it here?"

"Yeah, everyone seems to be really disciplined… I wish I could walk on my own though." I thought for a moment and nudged her arm when I was finished. "I have an idea." She got off of the bridge's arms and took my hand. She blushed, lowering her head. I tried my best to ignore her beautiful useless eyes and opened the large steel doors of the Guild.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to a small forest behind the Guild. They had to raise land from the bottom of the lake, so most of the land is completely flat." She still looked confused, not knowing what I was planning. "Ok… here we are!" I still held her hand as we entered the small woods. There were small patches of trees all over the place and a small arch that signified the path back to the Guild. Sunlight beamed upon us, making a warm feeling come over me. I still held her hand with a firm grip as I walked to the center of this silent haven. "What are we doing?"

"You're going to be able to run. I'll hold your hand the whole way so you don't fall or run into a tree." Her laugh chimed across the meadow. "This is very thoughtful! Thank you so much!" without warning she darted in front of me, giving me little time to catch up. "I thought you were blind!"

"It doesn't mean I don't know how to run!" she smiled from ear to ear and kept running. Her legs were like propellers on a submarine… wait, what's a submarine?

'_We finally finished it…'_

My head started to hammer with pain and I crumpled to the ground. "Nameless! Are you alright?" her soft hands touched my face. "You're trying to remember something… I can feel it." She moved her fingers on my forehead. "You want to remember something… but you don't want to remember something else…"

"How do you know this?" She wiggled her fingers. "I'm a bit of a fortune teller, although I have to read the face instead of your hand." She almost smiled, but then the throbs of pain came back. "We should go back." Jackie finally said after helping me up. "Alright."

When we came back, a huge crowd was well… crowding in a circle. We heard many cries of "Knock 'im out!" and "Beat him down!" and even "Kill him!" Jackie's eyes started to fog with worry. "Stay over here. I'll see what's going on." She nodded and found a nearby rock to sit on. I drew the black blade quickly and yelled. "What in the great Gods' name is going on here?!" all of the apprentices looked at me with distinct pure fear in their eyes. In the center were Christopher and some bulky lad with bulging muscles that looked like a swelled cut. He had black robes instead of the normal yellow ones. "This doesn't concern you!" the muscular apprentice said, still not revealing his face. "That's my friend there, you little bastard so it does concern me!" I walked up to him, almost eye to eye. "You really think you can talk that way to me?!" he roared. "Nameless… he isn't human. This doesn't include you. It's my past… no one else's."

"Your past may not be a big deal to you, but you still need to consider the consequences!" the black robed figure advised. I didn't feel like dragging this on anymore so I popped the guy in the face. Blood gushed from his nose and it stained the floor around him. "You'll pay for this!" he ran off back into the Guild with many apprentices on his tail.

"What the hell was that?!" I asked my friend. Chris answered mysteriously. "It's none of your business."  
"I just knocked him on his ass; I think it's my problem too now. Tell me." He sighed and looked at me with the squinted eyes of his. "You really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Alright… if you say so…" he opened his eyes wider, about as open as mine.

The whites of his eyes were black and the irises were a crimson red. "This is my mark of what I have done." He looked to the ground as if he expected hands to drag him down. "A long time ago, I was an acolyte at the Temple of Light. Everything was perfect. Except one day, Shadows attacked, killing everyone except for my mother. The man who controlled the Shadows, Cornelius Grim, promised me he'd spare my mother if I became an 'experiment'." He swallowed and waited for a moment before he continued. "He summoned a Shadow and put its heart into mine-fusing it if you will- giving me these damn eyes. On the night of the transformation, I had no control… I slaughtered my mother and almost went to Oakfield to kill the survivors, but Cornelius saw me try to escape and I kept running and running until I came here. The Guild Master took me in like a son and trained me for six years now. I'm fifteen years of age right now… heh, imagine a little nine year old killing his mother?" he silently wept, small droplets of tears dripping onto the rocks that made the Guild roads. "Now… he has found me. He will most likely try to capture me... and he won't care how many die in the process." I looked at my oldest friend. His head was hunched down, his body covered in bruises and his ponytail was messed up. "I should leave."

"No!" I almost punched him. "You have allies. We'll kill Cornelius. He won't dare fight us all! He'll take his time, waiting for us to go out alone. All we have to do is make sure we stay together. There's no way in hell he'd go after both of us!" I smiled widely, thinking of the poor coward. I didn't have much time to think about it though. "The front door is being attacked by shadows!" a Town crier ran around the Guild, and many weapons were drawn. I ran quickly to Jackie. "Jackie! Shadows are attacking. Where's James? We need to get you to the Chamber of Fate now."

"Why?"

"It's about a twenty minutes walk and it's a narrow passageway. If two riflemen go in there, they can hold off three hundred men. We're putting in fifty of the acolytes plus all the people too young or weak to fight. No offense."

"None taken. Just get James to take me there."

"WHERE IS HE?!?!" I yelled. "He's in the archives."

"James!"

"What?!"

"Get your ass down here!" he jumped down next to me, greatly startling the crap out of me. "Get to the Chamber of Fates. I don't have time to answer questions." I left Jackie and Jonathan to run to the Chamber as I made it to the front gate. "Hold your line!" claw marks and dents were evident on the door. I pulled out my gun and aimed it at the middle of the door. "Get away! The best we can do is use steel and Will to kill these things!" I guess they agreed, for they all pulled out their pistols and rifles to greet the Shadows that started to pour in.

It was one after the other, Shadows of all kinds attacked us. I saw a few of the Shadows land some hits on my comrades, but soon evaporated from my white sword. I remember something Chris told me. _"The white one basically kills evil while the black one does the opposite." _Even though the white blade evaporated whatever it touched, it was still pretty hard to kill the mass number of Shadows. I ran up to the door, gunpowder's scent thick in the air, and started to go crazy. A Fireball went one way, a Divine Fury another way, and a large surround shock spell. Even with all those attacks, it wasn't enough. "Pull to the Chamber!" the Guild Master called, sending a wall of rock to block anymore Shadows to enter. All of us ran to the long tunnels that led to the Chamber.

The tunnels were long and winded in a strange fashion. Many beetles came, but no one was even touched by them. A few lock mechanisms had to be unlocked because the clever virgin fighters locked all the doors. By the time we got past it all, we could hear the chatter of Shadows behind us. "Get in the Chamber! GET IN!" the Guild Master bellowed. We all got in, counting about one hundred in there now. There were sixteen innocents and fifty protecting acolytes, plus us, the newcomers. Christopher walked next to me, his eyes open and still looked like they were about to burst aflame and dark blackness in them. "Good to see you're alive!" he smiled warmly. "The Guild Master came down here to help all the civilians safe… there he is now!" I've seen the Guild Master before, but his body was bare, save his pants, and with Will lines curved in a complex fashion that curled around her ears and eyes. She constantly looked over all of us like a hawk. The Guild Master walked up to the center of the Chamber, which was elevated above us all, and used his loud voice to get our attention. "Everyone! Here is where we stand… the Guild might fall today from the Shadows. What will happen is that most of us will stay, but I will go direct the civilians to the Gypsy camp." He declared. "Everyone else stay here." He turned his back away from us and took all the evacuees with him. I was soon filled with panic when I didn't see Jackie among them. I started to sift among them, but didn't see her anywhere. Asking many apprentices was no help at all, for they didn't know where she was either. I even asked the Guild Master, but even he hasn't seen Jackie. I spoke to Chris shortly after my failed attempt to gather information. "She may've tripped or something… there's no way to be sure."

"I'm going out there." I started for the door. "No." he stood in front of me, preventing me from going any further.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Damn it, get out of my way!"

"I'm coming with you then!"

"If you do, the Shadows will attack you."

"I told you," he brought up his sword and pistol to view, "steel is the true Hero's weapon."

"Or Will powers." Raven towered over us, eavesdropping on the whole conversation. "I'm going to make sure you don't die before your first quest!" he grinned. "I would hate to lose my best student." Reluctantly, we three pried the door open and ran into the dark depths.

"Your death is imminent!" a bandit/Shadow yelled as I pulled the trigger to its forehead. My head hurt again… shooting a bandit in the head… watching it fall, lifeless and anything but worth bragging about. "Nameless! Hurry up!" Raven called. "I'm coming." I walked up the tunnels, calling out. "James! Jackie! Where are you?" we searched all the nooks and crannies of the filthy hole. "Hey! It's a bunch of book shelves. Some of these books are valuable…" Christopher had a smug face on, just wanting to get his hands on the books in front of his nose. "Another time." Raven looked aggravated and almost punched Chris if we haven't heard screams further up the tunnel.

"Jackie!" I ran as fast as my legs carried me, my heart beating exceedingly fast and my mind started to go numb with fear as I saw a tremendous amount of Shadows. Not for my safety, oh no. For hers. I casted a holy spell which produced devastating results to the hellish creatures. They bent and moaned as they dissipated into the air. In a corner was Jackie, James, and Darrell who clutched a sword, fear in his dark eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Nothing serious, just a few bruises, cuts, and OW!" James clutched his side, blood gushing from it. Raven brought up his hand to heal the wound, but Jonathan stopped him. "My… religion… forbids it." He started to go pale. "I don't care." Raven healed his wounds, much to James's despair. "Now I can never go back!" he moaned as if someone had just killed him. "It was either you never go back (wherever you came from) or you died." I tried to make him feel better. "Damn it!" he punched the wall of the cave, and only moments afterwards, more Shadows- about multiplied by sixty- started to pour in the small tunnel. I lifted Jackie onto my back and started to run.

"Move, move, move, move, move, move, move!" Chris yelled with books clutched to his chest.

"Gods damn you! Couldn't you just help us for FIVE seconds?! No~ you had to get a fucking book!" I yelled at Chris, whose eyes flicked at me. They still scared me, even though the owner was my best friend. Jackie smacked my head. "Mind your manners! A lady is present!"

"Books are more valuable than gold. These are priceless!" he kept running on as he yelled those words. "If I survive, I'm going to kick your ass!" I roared which resulted in a swift slap to the head.

We kept running for a few minutes, the three of us casting random spells to attack the incoming Shadows. The running and casting spells made me tired, especially when you have a person on your back… '_Pulling at my curly black hair'_ I had another headache, but not so serious to stop me from moving. Voices flooded my head.

"Hurry up!"

'_Wake up!' _ They came as an onslaught. I usually got a voice or two before, but nothing like this. My brain started to go numb.

_A metallic casing surrounded me. A young bandit lay at my feet, dead. A single bullet killed him which was lodged into his temple. He fell down and I fell with him… a bone jarring impact occurred. Everything went black._

Oblivious to the many Shadows, I kept running. "There's the door!" Chris yelled as he casted a Fireball and lobbed it. We raced towards the door, greeted by a whole entire shooting squad led by Sabre. Blue lines and the barrels of guns were easily spotted that seemed to cover the chamber like a wall. The bright light hurt my eyes, so I was temporarily blinded before I made it to safety. "Fire!" an acolyte yelled and the scent of gunpowder filled the air. Magic was flying in one direction, annihilating all the soldiers that kept pouring in.

While the fighting was going on, I was catching my breath. Jackie still clutched my hand, James was still mourning for some reason, Raven was beating the crap out of the Shadows (he literally made one shit itself), and Christopher was lending help the firing squad. A stray apprentice or two patted me on the back. They muttered names like Savior, or Kind Man as if I just cleansed the world of corruptness. When I tried to explain that 'It's not a big deal', Jackie quickly got annoyed by what I said. "You saved my life and James's! That is a big deal. That may've been a dumb move, but it was the right move." She hugged me which made me blush very much. Chris saw me blushing and smiled as if he was in the biggest joke in the world and only he knew what it was. It took only a few moments before she realized what she was doing and her face turned as red as mine. "I'm going to kill some of these things." I took my rifle and loaded it. I grabbed Chris by the shoulder, "Let's go." He nodded as I assaulted hell upon the figures attacking us.

WATCH NAMELESS WRECK HAVOC NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL- uh… I mean- HERO OF .;,ALOJELBAL!!!!!! *seizure*


	16. Siege part two

**Well, after the announcer regained consciousness, he started to say something… "AODFAJDFL; ADJFOAIHD!" which actually means, "Enjoy the story!" also, for those who may be wondering, fete means party. These siege chapters are like an arc. A short one, but I just wanted this to happen so in the future I could use this as a different part of the story. I'm not going to tell though! : )**

Chapter sixteen: After the Siege

Raven quickly made a plan to destroy the Shadow forces. He quickly drew a map which was pretty sketchy, but worked. "We take our main forces through these tunnels. Now, Cornelius must be somewhere inside the Guild, so that's why we're going to need volunteers to attack the other way. The person who gets me that bastard's head will be given an honorary title for his/her outstanding work. This half, go outside." He picked Chris and some acolytes (names were not known) around him. They nodded and headed quickly for the Cullis gate. "May the Gods be with us!" cheers aroused the Chamber as the new wave of Shadows came to attack.

Wisps of smoke slowly trickled upwards leaving a trail of dust in its wake. Our huge group of Heroes started to walk forward, meeting the Shadows whose numbers started to dwindle. Before, about ten of them hopped in at once, while this time only about three did. They were quickly dealt with and we advanced one step at a time.

I was near the back of the lines. Raven pulled me aside when he saw me using some of his spells that he taught me.. "You are a good Will student. However, you're carrying a girl while the siege is on? I hope you can still do well." I gave no response except for shooting a beam of lightning at an unsuspecting Shadow. "I'll be fine."

"Please, just don't get killed." He sounded as if she was pleading us. I walked forward, not replying back.

I would rather have Chris with me, for the Shadows would take him back to their master. I didn't know Cornelius personally, but one time he did visit the Guild and it ended in an argument between the Guild Master and he about teaching the students of reanimating the dead, or to join the Shadow cult of his. None joined him, which infuriated the dark man. When I saw him leave, he looked as if fire would shoot out of his eyes. It seemed the dark priest found an excuse to attack us… we couldn't leave him alive.

Step, step, step, step… our thunderous march was starting to frighten the Shadows, but they couldn't leave because we chose quite a few acolytes to go with Chris to trap them inside. For sure they would've alerted the Bower Guards by then which would be very helpful. Anyways, we were marching up the tunnels, picking off the groups of Shadows with great ease. Hordes of them bared their teeth as they turned into dust. Their bodies were like ever changing wisps of smoke. "Were they truly evil or were they bent to do Cornelius' bidding?" Jackie whispered quietly, almost as if she only wanted herself to hear the question. I didn't answer back. I didn't have the time, because a large troupe of Balverines came charging.

We were greeted by a new horde of beasts when we exited the tunnels. They truly weren't a match for our army. "Split up." Raven commanded. We obeyed, fearing our powerful friend. Well, a friend that has enormous powers and hasn't been seen alive for a very long time, but you know what I mean. Stairways were filled with these creatures, also the dining hall, archives, and even the bathing area! It wasn't too long until most of the Shadows were starting to group up in even greater masses.

"It looks clear over here!" a blonde haired boy declared, looking proud. "Same here!" an older red headed girl said. "Good job." I congratulated them, still bearing the weight of Jackie on my back. "Can you walk now? You're killing me." She laughed but obliged after doing so. "AH!" the blonde boy started to yell. A large Balverine was on top of him, mauling his body to shreds. He screamed more and more. The red head galloped toward him, but another Balverine came and struck her across her leg. She howled in pain as I raised my rifle and blew its head off (or at least I think I did). She rushed forward again as blood streaked his robe, eyes filled with fear he began to rest his head down. She gave a 'hyah!' type of grunt as she destroyed the abomination. "Sorry… it wasn't clear." His eyes closed and passed on silently. Another team came to us and saw the poor boy on the ground. "It's clear everywhere else. We'll bury him later." They said to the red headed girl whose eyes were filled to the brim with tears. "I envy you right now, not being able to see." I grimly said to Jackie. She nodded sadly.

The blonde boy who died wasn't the only one. All the bodies littering the Guild were all friends or acquaintances. Most of the Guild was cleansed. Shadows began to retreat to the front door to meet the Bower Guards and the remaining Heroes. If only things could be easier.

"Give it up, Cornelius! It's all over!" Raven called to him. Cornelius was in the middle of the bridge, surrounded by his beloved creatures protecting him, beard scuffled and white. "Some evil god must want you to live!" a guard yelled. His body looked frail, but his eyes told something else. They looked hollow, as if they didn't belong. "You cannot defeat me. I am a god!" he started chanting a low hum. Shots rang out, blocked by the beasts. He started to absorb all the Shadows, black covering his whole entire body. "Kill him!" The Guild Master started to look fearful. Who could blame him? We were being attacked by a senile old man bent on using Heroes for 'experiments'.

"NOW DIE!"

His body was now twisted. He was large, almost threatening to break the bridge. All of us scurried like ants to get away from the Guild, making a stampede. Jackie held strongly to my hand and ran like the wind. It must've looked funny, a blind girl leading. If only I could've enjoyed the humor then…

Anyways, he looked like a crossover of a forest troll, Balverine, and a Shadow. The hideous thing stumbled towards the field and his voice sounded like a thousand voices. "You shall not survive!"

"Shut up!" Raven casted a strong light spell towards the monster. He didn't even move from the hit. He actually absorbed the hit like a pillow and blew right through him. "Come here, Christopher!"

Spells were tossed at him like a splash fight in a river. They blew through him and his monstrous voice chuckled. "Puny little vermin!" he lifted his hand which spewed out a black, fowl spell that melted the ground like ice on a hot day. "Shoot! Cast the spells! His body has to be in there somewhere!" Christopher instructed. I didn't know how to kill this thing. "Where could his body be?" I muttered, cursing the sorcerer. I observed all the attacks though and saw what they were all missing. "Aim for his damned eyes!" I roared and unloaded my gun into his face. One of the bullets must've hit, because he yelled loudly and gripped his face. "You shall pay for your insolence!" he growled. His thunderous steps came forward up to me. "Oh shit."

His fist knocked me down and a loud sick crack was heard. "Bah, you aren't that much of a problem." I drew Twinblade's swords. The black one fell off, and I was left with the white blade. I was foolish and challenged him. "C'mon!" he charged forward again, threatening to burst my ears from his racket. "Die already!" he brought his fist down again, which I met with my sword. A small, tiny crack was seen on his arm. Soon it was another, and then another and another until his arm turned into dust. Maroon, sticky blood dripped to the ground. "Damn you, boy!" he brought down another fist near me, which knocked me down on my ass. I tried to get up, but he prevented me from arising with his finger. "You will be an interesting sacrifice." He hissed, examining my body. He was only inches from my face. "Irony sucks ass, eh?" The monster looked up, blinking twice to see Christopher with his pistol and sword, both jabbed into his eyes. "AAAAAAAAH!" he roared, stumbling all over the place, making earthquakes occur. He finally sat down, huffing loudly. He huffed and puffed until he blew up. He literally blew up like a whole bunch of sand being thrown into the air.

"Revenge is good."  
"You have no damn idea." Christopher grinned.

"Is… is he dead?" Jackie asked. "He's dead as a doornail." Chris responded. "Phenomenal work ladies and gentlemen." The Guild Master arrived. "Many people will sleep well now that the Temple of Shadows is put out of commission for good this time."

"That means you can go home, right?" I questioned Jackie. "Yes… I guess so…" she sadly smiled. "Ahem. Anyways, Chris, you'll be able to graduate as well with Nameless."

"No way." He looked at the Master with disbelief.

"Yes way. Actually, we can do it tomorrow. Yes, we will throw a party for the youngest Heroes in Albion. Unfortunately, we have burial duty tonight. Let's go fetch the poor students that gave their lives for us."

Fetching their bodies was the hardest thing I've ever done before. I recognized a whole lot of them. There was Jasper, whose voice wasn't ever questioned. She was only ten when she died. There was Mort who once grieved for killing a man but then found refuge and acceptance among the Guild. There was also Kathy, Joe, Billy, and also Gin. They all added to the large amount of tombstones on Hero Hill, where The Hero once lost his closest companion, even though many historians disagree on who he lost. I wanted to ask the Guild Master, but didn't because it didn't really matter.

A funeral was put in place. Everyone was there, looking at the large sum of dead laid before us. Many of the dead were already buried; because they were so damaged they couldn't be shown. All the other 'lucky' ones had on clean robes. "We are gathered here to remember the ones we have lost…"

After the funeral the red head that I fought beside came up to me. "Thank you for saving me." She thanked me, but I still felt awful. "I could've saved you both…"

"Don't blame yourself. Just don't forget this day. If you can brush this off as if it was nothing, you're as inhuman as Cornelius." She left me in that saddened place and I still pondered on her words.

**The next day…**

I didn't really enjoy the fact that Jackie was leaving. James didn't seem too happy that he wouldn't be able to return to wherever the hell he came from. Whenever we asked he just responded "Far, far away." That really pissed me off. So, we spent even more time talking with each other about anything we could talk about. It truly made me unhappy that she was leaving. I felt a pain that I haven't felt before. I didn't like it when I felt new things because it was awkward knowing I felt this feeling before but couldn't put my finger on it.

The Guild Master promised a party, and boy oh boy, he knows how to make one. Food was neatly distributed on a table and an enormous chocolate cake was made too. He explained "I may be old, but I do love sweets. I hope you do too, because we had to go through a hell of a lot of trouble to get this thing." I laughed at the dumb joke.

The whole Guild was assembled at the Chamber of Fate. It only seemed unfair that we had fun only the day after so many of our friends have died. Even when I was up there, taking my vows as a Hero, there were many teary eyes in the crowd.

The vows were pretty straight forward. They were all recited by the Guild Master, who seemed to be proud of me. "Do you swear to protect Albion and her freedom?"

"Yes."

"Do you promise to never abuse your powers as a Hero, to think yourself a God?"

"Yes."

"And do you promise that no matter what, you will protect the Guild in its greatest hours of need?"

"Yes."

"Then take this Guild Seal. Keep it with you always, we will be able to contact you and it's like a miniature Cullis gate." I grabbed the strange looking object, inspecting its strange carvings. "Titles, love, homes, and fame will come to you as you deserve it. I now pronounce this boy a Hero!" cheers were heard in the crowd as I lifted the seal above my head like a trophy (no pun intended if you remember showing off the guild seal as a trophy in Fable I… Good times…) and grinned. I walked down the aisle and took a seat to watch my friend's graduation.


	17. Eventful Days

_**THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER EVERZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Also, for the dimwitted people out there, NAMELESS IS HEATH! Also, before his hair was long, about shoulder length straight hair. Now his hair is shorter, but curly so that's why no one recognizes him! I wanted to make it an eventful chapter so I could make up for all the time I didn't have internet. THIS HAS 48,71 WORDS IN IT!**_

Chapter 17: Travels

Chris did look a little scary, but ignored his little secret and congratulated him. "Congratulations to you as well, my friend. We have to get you a good title. You can't go around being called Nameless."

"I guess you're right" I sighed. Being nameless was actually pretty fun. It seemed mysterious, as if I didn't exist. "I think I know the perfect name for you. I'm going to tell you your title when we get to Bowerstone."

"You're coming with me?"

"Hell yes." Bowerstone was the last thing on my mind as I took a slice of cake from the huge chocolate mountain.

"Congratulations, my dear boy!" a man came up to me. He was like a bandit, but more tame. He wore a rifle on his back, but no other weapon other than that

"Well, you're that young hero, eh? Set out to cleanse the world of all evil and all that?"

"Well actually-

"I'm from the Crucible. You must've heard of me." Only then did I notice all the people gawking at the unlikely pair. "C'mon… Mad Dog McGraw!"

"Who lost his mace to The Hero a while back?" His name was on the tip of my tongue when he told me, I swear!

"Well, yes, but how about freeing the world of monsters for some coin? We have many openings for young Heroes such as you."

"I'll have to decline. It wasn't me who killed Cornelius, but Chris." I pointed to my friend who was enjoying a conversation with the red headed girl, still in a black dress like the one she wore at the funeral. "Are you sure about this? I mean, fame and fortune are really what a Hero desires, am I right?"

"I'll decline your offer for now. I might go another time. Thanks anyways." I turned my back to him and started to search for Jackie.

She was propped on a chair near the front of the aisle with James. "Hey there." I greeted.

"Hail, Hero." Jackie joked. She held a plate of cake in her lap, untouched. "So, you're headed back to Oakfield?"

"Yeah, I guess so now that Cornelius is gone." She sadly answered. "I have to escort her back to Oakfield, and then I'll try to seek passage to my village." James continued for her.

"Do you live in Samarkand?" I questioned.

"No, I live in a different area. However, I'm looking for a place where you can control the weather. I'm more interested in the tomb there though, promising to bring back a loved one…" he trailed off and walked away, muttering to himself. "I never liked Oakfield." Jackie implied after a few minutes silence. "All the people there are taught if they ever do anything bad, they'll be sent to hell and see me as an unnatural person. The kids are no better, because they're taught exactly the same things that the monks are taught." She touched her eyelids, only seeing the downsides of things at the moment.

"Well, we really don't have to worry about the Temple of Shadows anymore, so that's a good thing." I tried to cheer her up. "I'll miss you when you leave, though. I guess this is goodbye." I looked at the ground, depressed.

"I was just thinking what if…" she pondered. "What if I went with you?" my jaw flew open. I'd love to have her come, but she would be in so much danger.

"Are you sure? I'll be fighting bandits much worse than Darrell."

"I don't care. I'm coming with you!" she folded her arms, making it clear she wouldn't debate anymore. "If you're coming, you'll have to tell James."

"I will. He'll understand." James approached and I left the scene before I got caught in their web of words.

"-So my boy, do you want to come to the Crucible?"

"I have matters to attend to. Please enjoy the party though; there is a huge mountain of cake waiting to be devoured." Chris always was smart. I rejoiced to hear that he declined McGraw's invitation as well.

"Hey Chris, Jackie's coming with us." I always said things straight forward. No use slowing down the inevitable. "Sure. Just make sure she doesn't get in the way or slows us down." He replied.

"I doubt that, you're taking horses." Raven snuck up from behind me. "Gah! Damn it, stop doing that!" I frustratingly clenched my fist. "Nah, it's too amusing." He smirked. "Now you are a Hero. This is when I read your Will lines to the best of my abilities." I felt the puzzled feeling creep over me. "What?"

"Just follow me. You too Chris." He walked towards the center of the Chamber which had a large seal in the middle. I only stood there minutes before, taking my oaths. "Your Will lines were very interesting. They twisted in a way that meant 'Evil Good'. It seems that you are one of the few whose futures cannot be read. However, your past is filled with sadness and a great event caused by you. You have been touched by death nay once, but several times. Your lines are filled with anger, frustration, happiness, joy, vengeance, and love. I, Raven Will Master have read your lines." He took a large intake of air after the long speech.

"Chris, you're Will lines are faint, so you have chosen the way of gun and sword. Skill and Strength are your greatest friends and weapons. Your dark past doesn't make you who you are, for your future is a great happy one, even though there are many battles in it. You are filled with love, compassion, vengeance, hate, and dark secrets. I, Raven Will Master have read your lines as well. Live well, for now you know your story." He dismissed us. "Take the Cullis Gate behind you when you're ready to go. There will be two horses waiting for you, and two days worth of supplies. I also should tell you that all the Guild funds are being used to repair the Guild, so you'll have to find jobs at Bowerstone." He explained. "You can live on your own and use whatever weapons you choose because you did us a great service. We're also making sure all the other Heroes will be able to use theirs as well, so be careful and watch your tongue when another passes." We nodded and split up. Chris went to the Guild while I went to Jackie.

"Jackie, we'll leave as soon as we're all ready. Are you?" I told her. She looked up at me and smiled. "I'll be able to go. I'm ready when you are." I smiled back but remembered that she was blind and became a little sad knowing she couldn't ever see my face. "You're a little tense." She felt my face. 'Well, not so blind.' I thought to myself. I removed her hands from my face. "Let's go get our things." I said, taking her hand and raising her up.

"How'd James take it?" I asked

"He was a little surprised, but let me go with you." She smiled again, but a more private smile. We kept walking through the tunnels that were still stained with the blood of those creatures and my former classmates.

Jackie's things were in a small bag. It contained five different sets of clothes, a brush, and a small pouch. I didn't open it, fearing that she'd be a little angry with me. "Done packing yet?"

"Pretty much, I have a good few pairs of robes, my weapons, and the food's at the horses. Let's get Chris."  
"No need to." He appeared out of thin air. "Are you guys ready?"

"You know it." I grinned, putting my bag on my arm and pouches filled with magic components on my belt. We all set for the Cullis gate, all thinking about the Bandit King.

The Chamber of Fate was empty. The mountain of chocolate was done, not a crumb left. All the plates and forks were neatly placed on the table, awaiting the servants to pick them up and clean them. It didn't seem normal with nobody inside it. It felt eerie, like something was watching us. Maybe it was the great heroes of old, looking over us. I quickly erased that thought and moved onward to the bright glowing gate.

Sunlight hurts your eyes after being underground for a while. I hated the pain on my eyes, but it disappeared soon enough. Two horses were waiting in front of us, both brown and carrying packs. "Let's go." I helped Jackie onto it while Chris helped himself. "I'm naming this one… Andrew." Jackie decided. I looked at Chris, he shrugged. "Sure, why not? Let's just get moving. We have quite a bit to go. Hyah!" I didn't expect the horse to go full speed down the winding hill. Jackie held fast onto my waist as I held an iron grip on the reins. "Slow!" I commanded. He slowed down and I looked for Chris. By now, we were at the bottom of the hill. I closed my eyes, praying for the buried dead on this hill. "Hurry up!" Chris taunted, speeding in front of me. "You're going down!" I raced towards him. All three of us laughed for a few minutes, almost falling off of the horses.

"How're you doing today, young apprentices?" the scout Guard asked. "I'm doing very well today, and we're Heroes. Not apprentices." We showed off our Guild seals. "Uh- well- err- have a nice day, sirs!" he saluted us as we rode onward. "Was he afraid of us?" Chris asked me."

"Obviously. Can you blame him? We've much more power than anyone else, other than the other Heroes, but otherwise, we're outrageously powerful!" I explained. He nodded and became silent.

After a few hours night fell. Jackie whispered to me. "Have you ever been to Bowerstone?"

"No."  
"Can you describe it for me when we get there?" she asked me innocently. "Absolutely. We'll all have to pitch in to get some money for the inn though."

"I tell their fortune. My mom was a fortune teller and she taught me." She offered. "Maybe." I replied back to her. She fell into a slumber while we rode on through the night.

We arrived in the middle of the night. "It's about time we got here!" Chris stretched. "Wait a second… Why couldn't we use the Cullis Gate?!" he shouted. "We have to go somewhere first so our Seal can analyze it, remember?"

"Oh… well, why wouldn't the Guild Master help?"  
"Sh! Jackie's sleeping." I hushed him. "Let's sleep out here. Remember, they don't allow people in at night anymore now that bandits are raiding the country." I took out a few blankets and put them on a nice patch of grass. I gently laid Jackie on one of them while I took another. "G'night guys." I whispered. "G'night." Chris answered back.

The next morning:  
I arose with stretching. Lots of stretching. My back ached as well as my neck. At least the gates were open. "C'mon. Get up. The doors finally opened." I lifted Chris to his feet. "What? I don't want… medicine." He blinked his eyes. I sighed heavily. "The Guild is on fire!" he jumped, eyes wide "NO!" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "You magnificent bastard!" he muttered. "It's about time the doors are open!" I held my neck, still writhing with pain. "Maybe we should get you a Bastard sword." He joked. A quick slap was heard as he clutched the back of his head. "Mind your manners." Jackie scowled. "Jackie's awake." I smiled.

"Really? I didn't notice." He glumly responded.

We soon put our horses in the stables, and started to look for jobs. A few boards were nailed to some doors saying 'help wanted'. "Let's see here… the jobs are blacksmith, gunsmith, potion brewer, waiters at the inn as well as a bartender." I reported. "Don't expect me to do much." Jackie shrugged. "I think the waiter job is the most successful one for us. We have good manners, do we not?" Chris suggested. "There's only one spot. We can't pay for that many people with a single salary." I thought for a while. "You and Jackie go see what you can do; I'll manage on my own. We need about a thousand gold to be set for a while." Before they could say anymore, I vanished into the crowd. 'Let's see here… alchemist shop looks good." I walked up the steps and knocked on the door. A man with weird eyewear looked at me. "You look for a job?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Come in, come in." he gestured to the inside of his shop. "What do I have to do for this job?"

"Everything."

"Bye." I walked out the door, leaving the man alone in the shop.

"Blacksmith job… what do I do here?"

"You have to make everything, as well as the gunsmith job."  
"Bye."

I walked to a small vegetable stall and sat beside it. My legs were folded and I began to meditate. A booming voice thundered. "Thief!" I stood up and saw a child in a hood with a bundle in his hands, running as fast as possible. "Catch the thief!" a fat man (cliché I know) chased the small rascal. I ran in front of the child and clutched the scruff of the hood. "Let me go!"

"No." I replied, voice sturdy. "Thank you apprentice."

"I'm a real Hero." I showed him my Seal. "Well, this can't go unpaid. This piece is the most valuable possession I have." He unbundled the bundle and revealed a sparkling diamond. "No payment is necessary. However, do you have any jobs available?"

"Sorry, I don't. Try asking some other people." He suggested and took off with the thief. I turned from the sight to meet a fat man staring at me. "Can I help you?"

"INTERESTED IN A TITLE?!?!?" he screamed. "No thank you…"

"HOW ABOUT BOUNTY HUNTAH!?"

"No sir, I'm fine."

"EVERY HERO NEEDS A TITLE!" I walked away from him. "COME ON BUY A TITLE!" I started to run. "DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME BOUNTY HUNTAH!" now I started to sprint. "YOU CAN'T OUTRUN ME BOUNTY HUNTAH!" I finally burst in the tavern, still having the crier at my tail. "COMING TO GET A DRINK, EH?!" he was so freaking annoying. "WE SHOULD CALL YOU DRINKER!" I started to clench my fists. "THIS CITIZEN SHALL NOW BE KNOWN AS-" he never finished, because I delivered a fist into his face. Blood seeped through his nose and his lip was cut. I tried to walk away, but was met by a few other citizens of Bowerstone.

"Why'd you do that? We got to teach this apprentice a lesson."

"Just try it." I challenged. The muscular guy rushed at me. I dodged him and slammed him into a table, breaking it. Blood came out from his forehead but it didn't stop him. "Die!" he took a knife out and tried to slam it into me. I once again dodged it, but another man toppled me. He hurled a fist down to me, but before he did, I took out one of my swords and used the flat part to whack him in several places which left him writhing in pain. The Town crier took a chair and broke the legs off. He tried to stab me with them but failed horribly.

"Just get hit!" ANOTHER newcomer came to hit me. I didn't see him, so I was slammed through a window and onto the town square. Many bystanders looked at me, puzzled on what happened. I sheathed my sword to avoid any panic. "Get him!" the five men stumbled out of the tavern like drunks. "Bring it on!" I started to look for escape routes. They all ran towards me. Before it was too late, a Fireball spell hit the ground in between the attackers and I. "It's about damn time, Chris…?" I tried to find who casted the spell but saw no one except a lone woman with white makeup holding a staff. "What the hell is going on here?!" she roared. "All you beating up an apprentice!" my anger took control of me. "I'M NOT AN APPRENTICE DAMN IT!" I screamed in frustration. The woman cocked an eyebrow as I lifted the Guild Seal. "Why the hell hasn't word got here yet about Cornelius?!" I muttered. By then a whole crowd came to see the spectacle. Chris came outside to see the end of the fight. I kept huffing though, rage soon erasing from my face. The men looked at me more fearfully now, understanding what was going on. "Thomas, you don't go and pick fights with people." The man who attacked me growled at the crier (now Thomas).

"You're dead kid!" the crier charged, knife drawn. I only then realized the damage done to me. I had glass stuck in my arms, back, and legs. Bruises covered my arms where I was knocked to the floor. I didn't like that crier though, so I could keep on going. "DIE!" he brought the knife up… and then down. I deflected the knife by hitting his wrists and then shoved my foot into his face. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose now, staining the bottom of my boots. I rose up and walked a few feet away before I sat down again. Pain rushed throughout my entire body like a huge heartbeat. "Call the guards!" a bystander finally yelled. The women came up to me, but rather check my wounds, she checked the weapons strapped on my back. She did seem strangely familiar. "You bastard." She slapped me hard and walked away. I waited patiently for the inn owner to come out and yell at me until his voice went hoarse.

"What the hell happened here?" a man walked out of the tavern angrily. He was missing a finger and a leg. His hair was brown and wild. His beard covered his entire chin and mouth. "Did this little apprentice do all that?" he jerked an accuse finger. "Annoying town crier. I punched him, he had friends, they hit me, and now I have a shit load of glass in my back." I explained. "How do you expect to pay for this?! The charges are at least 1000 gold!" he shouted. "I'll pay you back. Ironically, I was looking for a job when this moron showed up." I pointed to the bloody mess a few feet away from me. "Again?! He's a loony. Not right in the head… however, you provoked the fight."

"How the hell did I do that?! I didn't go up and ask him to stalk me!"

"I didn't ask you to punch him. You're responsible. Since you can't pay up, you'll be working at our inn, _Hero_." He mocked the name. I didn't get very angry because he had absolutely every right to blame me. I did start the fight after all.

He approached me carefully, almost as if I was going to snap at him like an untrained dog. "What, are you gonna slap me too like that woman did?"

"I should… those weapons you have…" he trailed off. "You should come with me. Now." He grabbed my arm and didn't give me a choice. I didn't resist at all, I actually complained. "I'm not running anywhere. You don't have to be so rough." I pointed to the shards of glass scattered all over my body. "Bah. You don't know the meaning of pain." I didn't ask him how.

"Who's this?" The man pushed me into a chair in a room. A girl sat alone in the room, she had dark skin and even darker hair. Goggles dangled from her neck. "An apprentice." My captor scoffed.

"I'm a Hero." These people seriously didn't get it. "I have the seal, damn it. You can check my pouch on my belt I f you want to check." The bearded man grinned. "You aren't a Hero. Nay, Heroes are large, strong men that can defeat Trolls with no problem."

"My friend and I killed Cornelius Grim." I was careful not to mention Chris' name. "Oh, did you?" he patronized. "Why didn't word reach Bowerstone yet?" I asked him. "The Guild was attacked and many of my friends were killed. Do you know what it's like to see your friends die in battle, their life sucked from them? That's what happened when my friends died from the Shadows." Unwelcome memories entered my brain again.

"Boy, you have no idea what I've been through." He was about a foot from my face. "Come on, King. Why'd you bring him here?"

"Look." He pulled the weapons from my sheath and my rifle too. "Give those back! They're mine!" I tried to wrestle my way up from the seat, but met the man's hand which held me down. He tossed the blades to the table beside her along with my rifle. "These are…"

"Mine damn it!" the glass shards entered my back even deeper. I howled in pain. "Don't move unless you want even more pain." He advised. "Thanks. Can I have my stuff back now?"

"THIS ISN'T JUST 'STUFF'!" the girl's eyes looked as if they were aflame. "These are my friend's!"

"No they aren't. The Guild Master returned them to me after he found me."  
"Found you?"

"Bandits attacked me and I had to recuperate for quite a while." Why was there such a strange feeling with these two? I felt as if I wanted to scream something out, but didn't know what to scream.

"So… the bandits that attacked him also attacked you and left the weapons?"

"I guess so. Those blades were very useful to me in my training."  
"How long have you been training?"

"For a very long time." I answered. She seemed to consider the thought… at least, before she slugged me in the face. "OW! What the hell was that for? I don't even know you people!" it didn't hurt too much. Déjà vu occurred quickly but then went away quickly. "What's my job, then?" I was very bored with the conversation. So what if my weapons belonged to their friend? It's not like it involved me or anything. "I'm here for a quest to kill a bandit organization! Can't I just steal all their weapons and give them to you to sell?" I offered.

"I'll never make a profit on a sin." Wow. Great life lesson there buddy.

The woman with white makeup entered the room soon enough. "Who's this?"

"He hasn't told us his name yet." I kept my mouth shut. "How'd he get the weapons?" The man retold my story. "I knew a bandit took the weapons! If only I could've installed a weapon for the armor…" The dark skinned girl started to cry. "Um… I'm sorry for breaking this family moment but what the hell does this have to do with me?"

"Those weapons saved your life several times, right? Without our friend's death, you would be dead by now."

"Ironic."

"No, it's cruel that you live and he doesn't." The woman scolded me. "What're your names anyways?"

"Jessica."

"King."

"Gail." I got another killer headache. That damn town crier just had to bother me. "If I rid the bandits, wouldn't that be reward enough?"

"Yeah, a worldly reward, but I need to pay for one broken table, one broken window, and three broken chairs." King stated.

"What do I do for money and when?"

"Get behind the counter. You'll serve beer. Just pull the nozzle until the beer is full and pass it to the drunkards in this town." I sighed heavily. "How many cups do I have to serve?"

"About… sixty."

"That isn't hard!" I laughed and fell into my chair which pushed the glass in even further. "But before I do, can you get this damn glass out?" I hated my luck.

Before, tweezers didn't seem sinister at all. Now, whenever I see a pair, I see a little metal devil waiting to dig into my skin. "You crybaby." Gail made fun of me like that a lot when I was behind your counter.

"So you two were close?" I pried.

"Yeah, we were great friends. It's my fault he died too." She looked off into space. "Give me a drink." She ordered.

I served her about five drinks, which she paid for. "Shouldn't you stop? You can't be any older than I am."

"You deal with your problems… I'll deal with…. With mine." She slurred.

"You're drunk."

"You're flying in the ceiling." She collapsed onto the counter. "This girl is the saddest thing I've ever seen." I ran my fingers through my hair which was straight if I haven't mentioned it before. "She's only done this three times. This is her fourth." King spotted me. "I'll carry her up then." King lifted the girl and disappeared up the stairs.

"You did what?!" Chris finally found me behind the counter. "Yeah… damn criers." I swore. "Where's Jackie?"

"She's upstairs reading."

"She's blind though."

"Apparently they sell a book that blind people can read and she can read it. I hope the bandits come soon, I hate seeing you in misery… never mind, I could watch you be miserable for as long as I want to!" he joked, but I didn't laugh. "I feel sorry for Gail, though."

"Her? I'm not surprised to see she's in a drunken state now. Remember the funeral on your first day at the Guild?"

"Yeah, there were a lot of people there for one person."

"Well he died saving the Guild by transporting seasoned Heroes onto the enemy ships. He meant a lot to so many people here. Gods know what happened to his sister." His head lowered. "Sister?"

"Yeah. She was pretty young when he died. I think she still lives here. You should talk to her… your weapons did belong to her brother." I nodded in shame. "I'll ask King later."

When I did ask King he cocked an eyebrow. "Ellie? You want to see her to cheer her up, don't ya?" he patted me on the back. "She lives in between the book store and the potion shop. Be careful though, when her brother died she became a little… different." He chose the last words carefully.

It took me awhile to decide what to do. About two hours, it took. I summoned up all my courage and knocked on the front door. A hollow sound pulsed. "Hello?" I opened the door and called out. It was pitch black inside, curtains covering every light source. I opened the door wider. I didn't like the greeting from a dog. He snarled and growled at me, hair standing up on his back. "Whoa, boy." I whispered.

"Come in please." A young voice from inside the house called to me. A curtain was opened, giving the house a lighter look. The light revealed a small girl with pitch black hair and a long black dress. "I'm a Hero from the Guild."

"I told you, I'm not interested." She said in a flat tone. I sighed and took my weapons off from my back and laid them onto a table. "Where did you find these?" her eyes started to fill with tears, giving her face more emotion. "I heard your brother died defending the Guild and these weapons were never found…" I started. "These have helped me countless times, but by blood rights these are now yours. It would be an insult for me to carry them." Her face turned up to mine. "You remind me so much of him. So formal at times, but as rude at another. He could always make me happy… even when…" she stared off into space, as if she was Jackie. My head pounded even more. It hurt a lot. The headache I had before was returning, screaming, laughing, and crying in hundreds of strange voices. I clutched my forehead, but didn't do anything to soothe the pain. I stumbled outside clumsily, my feet feeling like they were attached to long heavy chains. "Are you alright, Hero?" Ellie asked.

_Ellie, Gail, King, Jessica, Gordon, and Dakota. _The voice kept repeating itself over and over again. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to ignore the pain. They kept racing, more memories popping in my head. They weren't like the bandit's memories, unknown and unwanted. These were warmer, more welcomed. They came to me and embraced me like two old friends meeting each other.

_I would never leave you_

_Stuart!_

_Don't die!  
Please don't Die!_

_Hurry up!_

_Ellie!_

_You are more mature than you know_

"_**WHO IS HUNTING US!?"**_

"_The Bandit King." BANG! _

_**HEATH!**_


	18. Homecoming

I'm going to make each and every chapter at least 2,000 words now, so you guys can enjoy longer chapters, which I'm sure you'll blow through. Chapter 18 is a very heartwarming one, I assure you.

Chapter 18: Homecoming

"Hero?! Please wake up, you're scaring me!" the young child-Ellie was over me, watching me like a worried mother. My rediscovered memories rushed throughout my head. I started to cry. I didn't wail, but many tears streaked my cheeks. "Ellie… I'm sorry I left you, even though I promised I wouldn't." I started. "What are you talking about?" she looked completely confused.

"Jessica, Dakota, King and even Stuart! I remember it all, all of it thank you dear Light, Avo, whatever Gods that blessed this day!" Her eyes widened in excitement and surprise. "Heath! Brother!" she cried with joy and we embraced each other so tightly and happily, I never wanted to let go.

"What's going on out here?" Chris and Jackie walked outside the tavern, observing (or hearing in Jackie's case) the spectacle. "I… I remember everything." Chris' eyes widened. "I didn't want to remember what I did to that bandit…" everyone seemed to wear expressions (no pun intended Fable II fans) that asked 'What?'

"Never mind, I have to go see everyone."

"Everyone?" Ellie giggled and cried at the same time. "Ellie, promise me that you'll get rid of that dye." She nodded quickly. "You've grown up so much!" I lifted her onto my shoulders, recognizing the familiar weight. "Heath, we all thought you were dead." Ellie cried, wiping her tears away with the hood of my robe.

"That's why the first person we're gonna see is going to be Gail. Now, I want to give her an actual good excuse to slug me out."

Gail obviously woke up from her drunken fantasy and back into real life. "Gail, are you alright?" I asked, trying to sound like the guy I was only an hour ago. "Shut up. Get back to work so you can pay off the debt." She waved me off like a fly. "Well, what if I told you we need to get working on our submarine? Obviously the nets aren't going to build themselves. We're a team, right?" I leaned over, a smug grin on my face. Her face turned into disbelief, surprise, anger, and then happiness. "You can't be him… no one on this earth could survive that impact. We went to your funeral!" she screamed, clenching her fists. "Sit down. We have much to discuss, Gail." I pulled a chair for her and I sat on the bed. Then, I started from the beginning.

"You're a Hero now? And you killed Cornelius?" she questioned. "I guess I was always a Hero. That would explain how I survived the fall." I shrugged. "I feel embarrassed now."

"Why?"

"You know what I look like when I'm drunk!" she blushed, her dark skin turning dark red. "I still don't get it."  
"Get what?"

"Am I that big of a deal?" her nostrils flared. "You mean a lot to everyone here. It's like having Good without Evil. It's unbalanced." I was surprised by her words filled with care. "Another thing I don't get is I almost died… let's see… once when I was shot in the torso and Ellie yelled 'Don't die!' and shortly afterwards I survived, seeing Death itself. I saw him again when I was catapulted in the submarine. It seems something strange is happening. How can I escape Death twice?" I didn't expect Gail to answer as well. "Well, cockroaches do survive practically everything." We both smiled at the old memory of when we first arrived in Bowerstone.

"And they say grease monkeys don't stop drinking. Well, I've told you everything. Now, how's Gordon doing?"

"Not so well. Beasts have been appearing all over Albion and new Heroes have been flourishing. Backbiter, Sharpshooter, Eagle, Joker, Assassin… hell, even one calls himself 'the Scourge'. All of them have been slaying monsters across the land. I think that Blades is coming." She closed her eyes, probably doing what I was. Remembering the day when Knothole Island was conquered.

"Dad's been working on new weapons like your rifle, trying to make them more advanced. He's trying new armor and swords out to battle them as well. He's actually made a type of machine that you can fly around in. It's very exhilarating." We talked on and on for an hour, catching up. "It's good to have you back." Gail hugged me tightly, but let me go after a few seconds. "Now go scare the crap out of other people!" she chuckled and waved me off.

"Hey! Get back to work!" King yelled at me. "I quit!" I stomped out of the doorway, leaving King speechless while he followed me angrily. "You can't quit! You haven't paid your debts! Don't make me call the Guards!" he threatened. Ellie ran beside me and handed me a pouch of gold coins. "What are you doing Ellie?" his face turned red. My hard, rebellious face turned into a sympathetic one. "Hey King. It's been a while, eh? I know you missed me, not having to bail out my debts as usual so I just got a little bit of interest from the furniture shop." I tossed the bag at him. "Heath?" his eyes widened.

"Yup. It's good to be back." I smiled and shook his hand with a firm grip. "No way… I'm shaking hands with a ghost." I laughed heartily. "Well, I don't blame you. I've talked to Death twice now, and he hasn't taken me yet!"

"So you survived? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't know who I was until you all talked to me. My mind screamed for me to remember you guys, even though I didn't know why. That's harder than Cornelius, that's for sure." I started to explain from the beginning like I did with Gail.

"If you ever leave us all again, I'll bop you in the nose." He threatened, even though this was more of a joke… hopefully.

Jessica was the last person on my list. She was at her home, looking out her window sadly. I walked up to her steps, Ellie at my side. I almost expected her to come out with her staff to pulverize me, still thinking that I was who I was only a few minutes ago. Her door creaked ever so slightly, revealing her powdered face through the crack. "What do you want, Hero? If you brought Ellie out of her shell, congratulations." she scoffed. "Nothing much… just remembering some things." I hinted.

"We all have things we need to remember. We also have things we wish we couldn't." she advised.

"That is true. However, I did something that prevented me from regaining my memory. All I needed was a little help from my little sister." I put my hand on my precious little sister's head, still dyed pitch black.

"Heath was her brother. Not you." She didn't get it. I sighed and tried again.

"These weapons," I pulled out the familiar two blades, gleaming in the sunlight. "they came from your shop, where you gave them to me on the day of when we left Knothole." Her eyes widened. "Who the hell are you?!" she questioned. "I'm back." Jessica stomped up to me. I was about her height now, eye to eye. "Heath? You're… we buried you… even the Guild couldn't restore your body to a more recognizable state." She stuttered.

"That man was the bandit I killed. I lost my memory and ended up at the Guild. They taught me on how to be a Hero. They also sent me here to kill the people who have tried to kill Ellie and me." I explained.

"That doesn't make any sense." Jessica scratched her head.

"Let me explain…"

One hour later of asking a whole load of questions…

"-So that's how I got back here and nailed that damn town crier." I finished, out of breath. "There's something else I need to ask you." I groaned as if another question would rip my body to shreds.

"How did Twinblade's swords end up at Knothole?"

"Maybe the Void spat them up?"

_**For people who DON'T know, in the Knothole DLC pack, the box of secrets gets nearly all the weapons from the Void which 'spits' them onto the beach (HINT HINT). This info is more valuable later on! =)**_

"Perhaps… it's good to see you again." She didn't cry. She said once if you cried on an occasion of happiness, you're only trying to tell the person you miss them even though they probably know you do anyways.

I set my feet up on a chair at the Cow & Corset. King, Gail, Jackie, Chris, Ellie and I were discussing the quest I was assigned. "When the hell does the Bandit King get here?" I moaned. "Maybe when the first bandit comes here." Ellie sarcastically answered. I chuckled at her small joke and patted her head. "I'm not that little anymore." She folded her arms and wore that all-so-familiar look on her face that said 'come on!'.

"According to Darrell they were supposed to come one week ago… then the Shadows came the next day, holding us in for two… we buried the dead the third day and we left then… we slept outside which is the fourth day, but then we came here. This is the fifth day. The day after tomorrow, they'll come." Jackie stated. All of us look wide eyed at her. "I remember stuff, ok?" she shrugged.

"Well, he's also adding 'interesting recruits', whatever the hell that means." Chris still squinted his eyes. Now that I thought about it, he's been squinting them the whole time. He must think everyone will be scared of him, which would probably be true, Grim-slayer or not.

"We need to have plans then for the meeting. Since there's gonna be a fight here, I sure as hell don't want to clean it up." King demanded.

"We can't exactly clear everything, that'll give it all away." Gail didn't seem too happy to hear that I've been 'playing Hero' (pardon the pun) but agreed to help me finish my quest.

"Where are they going to meet anyways? Which room are they going to trash?"

"They'll probably use the whole inn… we could renovate the place. Heath and I have literally thousands pieces of gold. That way, when they do damage the furniture you can count on us! Plus, if we do buy new furniture, it'll be way better than these old things." She pointed at all the cracked legs on the chairs, which were at quite a surprising number. King looked angry because Ellie implied it was cheap, but it disappeared as fast as a Shock spell. We sat in silence for a few minutes after that. "Alright… we'll renovate after you deal with the Bandit King." The scarred man agreed.

Chris and I walked out to observe the town. It slowed down and soon the streets were emptied. "Do you really think we'll be able to take them all down?" Chris questioned. "There's only one way to find out. We really shouldn't kill any of them; we do need some questions answered." I replied.

"Yeah… that bandit you killed said something about it, right?" I shivered at the memory. Never before did I sense such evil inside of me. "Yeah, he did. We just need to make sure that we give them to our good friends at the Guild to 'question' him." I assured him.

"I used to think Heroes were above torturing." Chris shrugged.

"Even Heroes have flaws, no matter what the people of Albion may think." I know I was right about that. Heroes used to go out and kill villagers for no reason; even Jack Slayer was rumored to be a cold blooded murderer. Another Hero, Thunder, was apparently green with envy when Jack Slayer took all the glory. Then there was me, a young Hero that didn't even hesitate to take a man's life. Was I supposed to hesitate, or would that show weakness?

"Let's go back to the inn. We have only one day to prepare." Chris nudged my arm with his elbow. "Yeah… maybe we should try to be a little careful with the Bandit King. They'll be dangerous; it isn't just random that they choose leaders."

On our way back to the inn, something troubled me. I remembered something that I didn't know before the incident.

_I fell out of the sky and gravity pulled me towards the beach below. A girl with snow white hair was sprawled on the sand. A few other things fell with me: a barrel, two crates, and a large pouch filled with gold. My face stung with pain on impact. Before I blacked out, I saw a woman with a white face come towards me… People with white faces aren't usually known for mercy._

"It's about time you came back. Where were you?" Jackie scolded. She became something like a mother to all of us (excluding King and Jessica). "We were just looking at the sights."

"Where's Jessica?" I looked around to find my mentor, but wasn't anywhere to be found. "She's in the back." King pointed to a door leading to a storage room. It was about time I got some answers.

"Hello Heath." Jessica greeted.

"Hey Jessica, I have a question." I called.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Ellie and I aren't related, are we?" she paused before giving me an answer, sighing like a parent does when they have 'the talk' with their child.

"No."

"You never knew either of our parents?"

"No."  
"Why did you never tell us then?"

"You were sent to us by the Void. We didn't know who your parents were, so we adopted you into the Island. We wanted you to have a good life, worry free about not knowing who your parents were so we lied to you."

"So lying to me is now better than telling me the truth?!"

"Aren't you glad though, that you have someone that's like family?"

"Yes. Ellie and I will always be family. The bonds we have cannot be measured in blood."

"Then why does it bother you?"  
"Because I've been lied to!" I yelled. A few heads poked into the door, examining the scene.

"I understand your position right now Heath."

"No you don't! You don't understand a damn thing! You know who your parents are, right? You know that no matter what, they'll still love you! What do Ellie and I have? We have absolutely no hope finding them in Albion or anywhere else in the world! I wouldn't be taking this so seriously if you actually told me!" I was blinded with rage. I stormed out the inn, grabbing Ellie's hand. "Let's go home." I said, trying to get rid of the anger that took control of me.

"I don't like it when you two fight." Ellie quietly said when we came back. "I'm sorry… it's just she knew all along we didn't have a single shred of knowledge about our parents. Remember what she told us one day? 'Your parents will come find you, I know they will'. She lied through her teeth every time we mentioned anything involving our parents!"

"I thought we weren't related." She seemed to be in shock. Who could blame her? I still was. "We'll always be family." I assured her.

"Where's Dakota?" as if on cue the dog jumped on me, knocking me to the floor. "I just had to say it…"


End file.
